Program Solicitation: NSF 20-512

Letter of Intent Due Dates (required): December 20, 2019

Full Proposal Deadline: February 6, 2020

Understanding the Rules of Life (URoL): Predicting Phenotype is one of NSF’s 10 Big Ideas and is focused on predicting the set of observable characteristics (phenotype) from the genetic makeup of the individual and the nature of its environment. The development of new research tools has revolutionized our ability to manipulate and investigate the genome and to measure multiple aspects of biological, physical, and social environments. The opportunity now is to assimilate this new information into causal, mechanistic, and/or predictive relationships among the genomic and epigenetic makeup, the environmental experience, and the phenotypic characteristics of biological systems. These relationships are the basis for the Rules of Life – the theoretical constructs that explain and predict the characteristics of living systems, from molecular and sub-cellular components, to cells, whole organisms, communities and biomes.

Successful projects of the URoL:Epigenetics Program are expected to use complementary, interdisciplinary approaches to investigate how epigenetic phenomena lead to emergent properties that explain the fundamental behavior of living systems. Ultimately, successful projects should identify general principles (“rules”) that underlie biological phenomena within or across scales of size, complexity (e.g., molecular, cellular, organismal, population) and time (from sub-second to geologic) in taxa from anywhere within the tree of life, including humans. URoL:Epigenetics projects must integrate perspectives and research approaches from more than one research discipline (e.g., biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, geology, mathematics, physics, social and behavioral sciences). The interdisciplinary scope of URoL:Epigenetics projects also provides unique training and outreach possibilities to train the next generation of scientists in a diversity of approaches and to engage society more generally.

The URoL:Epigenetics Program offers two submission tracks: Track 1 – for projects with a total budget of up to $500,000 and an award duration of up to 3 years, and Track 2 – for projects with a total budget of up to $3,000,000 and award duration of up to 5 years.

The URoL:Epigenetics Program includes participation from the Directorates for Biological Sciences (BIO), Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), Education and Human Resources (EHR), Engineering (ENG), Geosciences (GEO), Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS), Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE), and the Office of Integrative Activities (OIA) at the National Science Foundation. The goals of the program are to foster crosscutting, interdisciplinary research on the epigenetic regulation of organismal phenotypes that integrates perspectives and research approaches from more than one of these directorates. This program aims to support projects that would not traditionally be supported through regular core programs of the participating directorates and offices. To that end, all proposals submitted to this program should identify two or more diverse and complementary disciplines involved, and how the project integrates them via interdisciplinary approaches.

Appropriate approaches for URoL:Epigenetics projects include, but are not limited to:

• The use of cellular engineering and physical-chemical approaches to manipulate molecular and cellular components to understand cellular and organismal responses to environmental change;
• Investigation of physical, and chemical interactions that underlie epigenetic changes in the structure, packing, function, and dynamics of DNA, RNA and proteins;
• Development/ application of artificial intelligence to identify patterns that reveal the underlying principles to explain how environmental influences on the epigenome lead to phenotypic outcomes;
• Leveraging of existing experimental, observational or survey datasets to model or analyze relationships among environment, epigenetic processes, and phenotype, including across populations, species, or ecosystems;
• The use of interdisciplinary biological, mathematical, computational, social and behavioral science methods to predict relationships among epigenetic mechanisms; physical, physiological and behavioral phenotypes; physical, social and built environments; and emergent properties at organismal and supra-organismal levels.