news

The Department of Energy’s Office of Science recently published a Funding Opportunity Announcement.  It seeks pre-applications from parties interested in microbial systems design for biofuels as well as plant systems design for bioenergy.  The pre-application deadline is February 13, 2012.  $20 million total will be available for multiple awards in 2012.  DOE expects that the awardees will receive multiple year funding (up to 5 years) with expected annual funding levels between $1 million and $5 million per project.

Below is a brief summary of the FOA from DOE.  The full FOA can be found here.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER) hereby announces interest in receiving applications for research that supports the Genomics Science Program and addresses DOE’s missions in energy and the environment in the following research areas:

a) Microbial systems design for biofuels, from computer modeling to experimental validation: To develop modeling algorithms and innovative biosystems design technologies to define, build, and apply functional biological modules for the generation of novel biological systems that advance toward the production of biofuels; and

b) Plant systems design for bioenergy: To develop novel technologies to re-design bioenergy crops that can grow in marginal environments while producing high yield of biomass that can be easily converted to biofuels. Applications should also address potential societal implications of engineered organisms.