Cooperative Agreement W911NF2220119

This $292,310 National Science Foundation project grant under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) will fund research at Soka University of America to characterize reflectin proteins and their role in tunable iridescence. Reflectins are key components of light-scattering nanostructures in cephalopods that enable dynamic color change. The grantee will disentangle the effects of reflectin's unique amino acid sequence on its assembly properties and biophotonic function. Undergraduate...

This three-year, $308,978 National Science Foundation project grant supports collaborative research between Professor José Gascón of the University of Connecticut and Professor Warren F. Beck of Michigan State University. The researchers will investigate the photophysical mechanisms cyanobacteria employ to protect themselves from excessive sunlight exposure. Specifically, they will determine how a ketocarotenoid bound to the Orange Carotenoid Protein serves as a light intensity and color sensor....

This Project Grant award of $270,000.00 from the National Science Foundation's Biological Sciences (CFDA 47.074) program funds a postdoctoral research fellowship focused on understanding the "cost of complexity" in multifunctional rhodopsin genes from cyanobacteria. The research seeks to determine how maintaining multiple functions, such as proton pumping and light absorption, impacts the ability of these genes to adapt to changing environmental conditions. The project will...

This $476,910 project grant from the National Science Foundation's Division of Integrative Organismal Systems and Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) supports research examining light signaling in marine photosynthetic organisms. Specifically, the grantee Southern Methodist University will investigate the function of blue light sensing proteins called aureochromes that are widely distributed in marine algae. The university will study the photochemical kinetics, expression patterns, and...

This federal Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Biological Sciences (CFDA 47.074) program provides $1,013,589 to the University of Florida to study the environmental induction of a novel cell type, the amoebocyte, in the upside-down jellyfish Cassiopea xamachana and to investigate the molecular mechanisms behind the establishment of stable photosymbiosis between the host and photosynthetic dinoflagellate algae. The research aims to gain insights into how novel cell...

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 National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $768,325 Project Grant under its Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) to the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) to conduct collaborative research on the mechanisms underlying how animals specialize for life in the deep ocean. The project will focus on studying the cell membranes of deep-sea animals, particularly ctenophores (comb jellies), to uncover the genetic and physicochemical adaptations that enable survival under the extreme...

This National Science Foundation project grant award of $277,074 provides funding over three years from September 2022 through August 2025 under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049) to support collaborative research between the University of Connecticut and Michigan State University. The researchers will investigate the photophysical mechanisms by which the orange carotenoid protein in cyanobacteria converts between resting and active states in response to light...

This National Science Foundation Project Grant of $973,030 supports research into the rapid phenotypic evolution of pigmentation genes in South American seed-eating birds (genus Sporophila) through 2025. Funded under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074), the award enables detailed study of the chemical, structural, and genetic mechanisms underlying color production and patterning in avian feathers. Researchers from Cornell University will analyze pigment composition, nano- and...

This $472,597 National Science Foundation project grant supports research on the photophysiology and bio-optics of mesophotic coral reef ecosystems in the Red Sea. Funded under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074), the research will employ an interdisciplinary approach including fieldwork, laboratory analysis, and advanced imaging to establish the light-harvesting properties of corals thriving at depths with extremely limited light availability. Specifically, the team will collect and...