Project Grant 1759874

The Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences will develop a novel microencapsulation-based technology for whole genome sequencing of RNA viruses from ocean environments under a two-year, $599,048 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation Division of Ocean Sciences' Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050). The laboratory aims to address the pressing need for direct quantification methods for small RNA viruses in marine samples, which play a major role in microbial ecology and evolution but are...

This Project Grant from the National Science Foundation Division of Environmental Biology will fund research into leveraging soil viromics to study ecological patterns in complex soil microbial communities. The $820,312 award to the University of California, Davis from January 15, 2023 to December 31, 2027 will elucidate the spatiotemporal dynamics of soil viruses at the UC Davis Jepson Prairie Natural Reserve. Researchers will compare viral community biogeography and succession patterns...

The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $815,899 Project Grant under the Geosciences (CFDA 47.050) program to the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS) for a project titled "Unraveling the Ecological and Evolutionary Drivers of Marine Giant Virus Community Dynamics". The project aims to elucidate the ecological and evolutionary determinants of marine nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses (NCLDVs), commonly known as "giant...

This $400,000 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Mathematical and Physical Sciences (CFDA 47.049) program supports research to model the complex dynamics of viruses and bacteria in ancient ocean-like environments. The project aims to identify "keystone" viruses that significantly influence microbial community structure and biogeochemistry in these stable, oxygen-free lake ecosystems. The research will develop innovative mathematical methods to predict...

This three-year, $502,187 project grant from the National Science Foundation's Division of Emerging Frontiers will support the discovery and characterization of novel viral pathogens of Caenorhabditis elegans. Funded under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074), the award aims to identify new viruses in wild-caught free-living nematodes that can infect C. elegans. West Chester University of Pennsylvania will conduct the work, with support provided to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania....

This three-year, $240,000 project grant from the National Science Foundation will support genomic research and public education on wildlife viral emergence in Cambodia. Funded under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074), the award will enable a postdoctoral fellow to conduct metagenomic surveillance of rodents, mosquitoes, and the environment to detect known and novel viruses. Sequence data will be analyzed alongside climate and landscape data to model zoonotic spillover risk. The fellow...

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the Biological Sciences (CFDA 47.074) Federal Grant Program provides $987,566 to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to conduct research on viral self-assembly, from test tube to cell cytoplasm. The award period runs from December 15, 2024 to November 30, 2028. The key objectives of this project are to elucidate the differences between in vitro and in cellulo viral processes by progressively adding molecules...

The University of New Mexico received a $205,869 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation Division of Environmental Biology under the Biological Sciences federal grant program (CFDA 47.074). The grant funds collaborative research to systematically discover and characterize viral diversity across the mammalian tree of life. Researchers will sequence viruses from cryogenically frozen tissue collections of wild mammals stored in natural history museums. This will further the...

The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $454,006 Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050) Project Grant to the University of Tennessee to conduct collaborative research on the role of viruses in the cycling of organic matter and energy flow within temperate marine ecosystems. The project aims to quantify the impact of "virovory" (grazing on virus particles) on carbon and nutrient dynamics, using isotope tracing and microbial food web models. This research is intended to improve the...

The National Science Foundation Division of Ocean Sciences awarded a $1,176,227 Project Grant to the University of Hawaii at Manoa to support research titled "Giant Viruses in the Open Ocean: Is Large Size Adaptive Where Cells are Scarce?" from January 15, 2022 through December 31, 2024. The grant funds basic research within the Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050) to expand understanding of the integrated Earth system through atmospheric, earth, and ocean science studies. Specifically,...