Cooperative Agreement FA70001520013

The National Science Foundation awarded $125,000 under the Engineering (47.041) federal grant program to The Regents of the University of California for a project titled "Charge Transfer at Abiotic-Biotic Interface for Photosynthetic Biohybrids." The University of California, Berkeley will utilize the funding from August 1, 2022 to July 31, 2026 to examine the fundamental electron transfer and energy transduction pathways in emerging photosynthetic biohybrid systems. Researchers will...

Microbio Engineering Inc., a for-profit organization, was awarded a $200,000 Project Grant from the Department of Energy Office of Science's Financial Assistance Program (CFDA 81.049) to conduct research and development on using the fast-growing microalga Porphyridium cruentum as an alternative protein source. The project aims to advance sustainable technologies in renewable energy, biofuels, bioproducts, and carbon capture through Microbio Engineering's expertise in algae cultivation, genetic...

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) provides $665,885 to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) to conduct collaborative research on the evolution of acquired phototrophy in Mesodinium ciliates. The key products and services to be delivered under this 3-year award, which began on March 1, 2024, include: Comparative studies of the cellular, metabolic, and genetic adaptations across a genus of Mesodinium ciliates that...

The Department of Energy's Office of Science Financial Assistance Program (CFDA 81.049) awarded a $800,000 project grant to Boise State University to investigate "Probing Coherence Dynamics in Model Systems to Understand Energy Transfer in Photosynthesis." The grant supports fundamental scientific research aimed at advancing the understanding of energy transfer processes in photosynthesis. The research will utilize femtosecond 2D electronic spectroscopy and femtosecond coherence...

This $250,000 Project Grant, awarded by the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) program on August 1, 2024, supports research by Professor Agatemor and students at the University of Miami to develop and investigate photoluminophores that emit light in an aqueous environment using biocompatible and eco-friendly deep eutectic solvents (DES). The key objectives of this 2-year project are to elucidate the mechanism behind the photoluminescence of DES,...

This $650,001 federal Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Mathematical and Physical Sciences (CFDA 47.049) program supports research by the University of Chicago on the periplasmic biomineralization of semiconductors and semiconductor alloys for living photosensitive biomaterials. The goal is to establish a robust protocol for incorporating light-harvesting semiconductor nanoclusters into the periplasmic space of bacteria, which can enhance the efficiency of chemical...

This $493,073 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) supports collaborative research at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) on the evolutionary processes that enable a genus of ciliates known as Mesodinium to acquire and maintain phototrophy through organelle sequestration. The 3-year project will use comparative cellular, metabolic, and genetic analyses to understand the adaptations that allow some Mesodinium species to...

The Project Grant awarded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program provides $591,498 to Vanderbilt University to develop innovative biohybrid solar cells inspired by the natural photosynthesis process. The project aims to extract photosynthetic proteins from agricultural waste and incorporate them with other nanomaterials to create highly efficient solar energy conversion devices. Key innovations include...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Early-Concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) award under the NSF Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) provides $150,000 to researchers at the City University of New York (CUNY) City College to investigate using hydrogen peroxide, a toxic waste product generated by certain bacteria, as an energy source for efficient biofuel and biochemical production. The key objectives are to: 1) develop an E. coli strain platform to control and monitor hydrogen...

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) provides $369,297 to San Francisco State University (SFSU) to develop a synthetic transhydrogenation module to enhance the production of valuable chemicals using engineered organisms. The key objectives are to: Elucidate the structural mechanisms underlying the autoregulation of the GltAB-GudB enzyme complex in Bacillus subtilis, which regulates glutamate metabolism and impacts...