This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Polar Programs (CFDA 47.078) supports a collaborative research effort focused on studying the ecology of an Antarctic ascidian (sea squirt) and its symbiotic microbiome that produces the natural product palmerolide A (PALA). The $734,554 award to the Nevada System of Higher Education's Desert Research Institute will investigate the distribution, chemical diversity, and biological roles of the ascidian-microbiome-PALA association...
This National Science Foundation (NSF) Project Grant award under the Polar Programs (CFDA 47.078) provides $554,121 to the University of South Florida to study the ecology of an Antarctic sea squirt and its associated microbiome. The key objectives are to: Characterize the microbiome composition, metabolome, and mitochondrial DNA of the Antarctic sea squirt Synoicum adareanum at sites in the Antarctic Peninsula and McMurdo Sound. Use a multi-omics strategy to comprehensively examine the Synoicum...
This Project Grant from the National Science Foundation Division of Polar Programs, under the Polar Programs federal grant program (CFDA 47.078), provides $210,495 to support research examining how microbial extremophiles in Antarctica respond to environmental changes in salinity. Led by researchers at the University of Tennessee, the grant will fund comparative analyses of gene expression patterns and secondary metabolite production in lab microcosm studies using microbial isolates previously...
This three-year, $337,000 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050) will fund the development of zooplankton distribution models for the Antarctic Peninsula through machine learning techniques. The award recipients, the University of California Santa Cruz, will analyze long-term survey data from the Palmer Long-Term Ecological Research program to generate functional relationships between five key zooplankton species distributions and environmental...
The University of California San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography was awarded a $673,107 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) for the period of April 15, 2021 through March 31, 2024. The grant funds collaborative research between the awardee and other institutions to integrate phylogenomics with the fossil record to advance macroevolutionary research using sea urchins as a model clade. The Biological Sciences program aims...
The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded the University of California, Davis a $605,073 Project Grant under the Polar Programs (CFDA 47.078) federal grant program to conduct research on the effects of environmental change on microbial self-organized patterns in Antarctic lakes. The 3-year project, running from March 2024 to February 2027, will advance understanding of the spatial structure and relationships of benthic microbial communities in Lake Vanda, Antarctica, and how they respond...
This Project Grant from the National Science Foundation Division of Polar Programs, under the Polar Programs federal grant program (CFDA #47.078), provides $356,975 to support research examining the genomic mechanisms controlling the slow development of the Antarctic sea urchin Sterechinus neumayeri. Over three years from September 2022 through August 2025, a team of researchers led by the University of North Carolina at Wilmington will conduct laboratory experiments to identify the gene...
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 $128,646 National Science Foundation project grant supports research at Occidental College investigating the ecological role of secondary metabolites produced by mudflat sea slugs in estuarine ecosystems. The three-year award, made under the Biological Sciences program of the Division of Integrative Organismal Systems, will characterize novel polyketide compounds synthesized by the common mudflat mollusc genus Alderia. Researchers will test the hypothesis that these compounds function as...
The University of California San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography received a $1,247,478 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Division of Polar Programs under the Polar Programs (CFDA 47.078) grant program. This 4-year award funds a collaborative research project titled "Antarctic Low Cloud Interaction with Natural Aerosol (ALCINA)". The project will collect comprehensive field data on aerosol properties and cloud optical characteristics at Palmer...
This federal Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Polar Programs (CFDA 47.078) provides $411,920 to the University of California San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography to investigate the ecology of an Antarctic sea squirt and its associated microbiome that produces the natural product palmerolide A.
The research aims to determine the geographical range, chemical and microbiome complexity, and biological effects of palmerolide A within the sea squirt's native Antarctic seafloor habitat. Using a multi-omic approach, the project will characterize the structural and functional features of the sea squirt-microbiome system, and explore the role of palmerolide A in modulating the host's physiology. This research is expected to advance understanding of this intimate host-microbe association and may have future applications in biomedicine and biotechnology. The award also provides opportunities for early career scientists to participate in this Antarctic marine research.