Grantee Research Project Results

INTERAGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT OF OPPORTUNITIES IN METABOLIC ENGINEERING

SUMMARY

The Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National Science Foundation have developed this Inter-Agency Announcement.

Proposals are invited that describe enabling technologies useful for the study of metabolic processes and metabolic engineering. Three areas are of particular interest, although others may be considered:

Instrumentation, sensors, new analytical tools, and new cell and molecular biology methods which facilitate the study of metabolic pathways, especially those technologies that allow the examination of individual cells.

Quantitative and conceptual models integrated with experimental studies that better characterize the regulation and integration of complex, interacting metabolic pathways.

The use of bioinformatics to deduce the structure, function, and regulation of major metabolic pathways.

Multi-disciplinary projects are being sought in the above areas. It is desirable that such projects take advantage of the opportunity for synergistic interactions between at least two of the participating Agencies.

Funding: The seven agencies will make available up to $3M annually from current research funding (including agency in-kind support ie, equipment, laboratory space, personnel time, materials, etc.) in support of this announcement. There will be annual competitions to support new Metabolic Engineering projects over the next five years.