This Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) provides $1,038,598 to the University of Delaware to develop two synergistic synthetic biology systems for deciphering the roles and regulation of genetic and biochemical pathways in the protective plant cuticle. Over three years from August 2022 to July 2025, the University will engineer yeast cells and plant roots lacking a cuticle to systematically refactor the transcriptional regulatory...
This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) provides $192,052 to the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska to investigate the cellular and biomechanical mechanisms of rapid stomatal dynamics in grasses. The project will utilize molecular genetics, cell biology, computer vision, mechanical testing, and computational modeling techniques to gain a better understanding of how...
This National Science Foundation (NSF) Project Grant award under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) provides $429,656.00 to Cornell University to conduct research using synthetic biology methods to engineer microorganisms to produce valuable plant natural products. The key objectives are to reconstitute plant biosynthetic machinery in yeast in order to better understand and harness plant enzyme complexes for natural product synthesis. This research aims to develop a more resilient...
The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $953,779 Project Grant under the Biological Sciences (CFDA 47.074) program to the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska to develop innovative data processing and advanced visualization tools for optimizing maize canopy architecture. The goal is to create a "digital twin" of maize plants that can simulate real plant growth and response to the environment. This will allow researchers to experiment with different plant traits and...
This $1,999,998 National Science Foundation Project Grant, funded under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074), supports research at the University of Washington to advance plant synthetic biology through deciphering the grammar of crop gene regulatory elements. The three-year award beginning March 1, 2023 will apply massively parallel reporter assays and machine learning to characterize tens of thousands of genetic regulatory elements in maize and tomato, including enhancers,...
This three-year $1.28 million project grant from the National Science Foundation's Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) supports research at Washington State University to develop a quantitative understanding of lipid metabolic network structure, fluxes, and sub-cellular spatial organization in plant seeds. The goal is to elucidate how plants balance oil accumulation with membrane lipid synthesis to optimize seed oil production without affecting membrane properties. The project will...
Colorado State University will provide research, education, and outreach services under a $622,699 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation Division of Integrative Organismal Systems. The grant falls under the NSF Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) and aims to facilitate the prediction and validation of plant enzyme functions through three key activities. First, CSU will deposit published plant enzyme activities into public databases to support computational function...
This $1,100,000 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) will support research to study the genetics and chemistry behind the specialized metabolites produced by plants in the Brassicales order, such as those found in broccoli, capers, and wasabi. The research aims to identify the key genes and biological processes that contribute to the diverse array of chemical compounds, known as glucosinolates, which provide flavor, aroma, and...
The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $100,000 CAREER grant under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) to the Regents of the University of California at Riverside (UC Riverside) to develop a multiscale mathematical model for understanding the mechanisms underlying cell morphogenesis and tissue development in plant leaves. The 5-year project aims to improve understanding of the general principles that govern cell shape formation and tissue growth, using the interdigitated...
Cornell University received a $1,177,301 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation Division of Integrative Organismal Systems. The grant was awarded on July 1, 2023 under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) to support research activities focused on developing computational tools and synthetic biology techniques to improve functional annotation of plant enzyme genes. Specifically, the grant will facilitate deposition of published plant enzyme activity data into public...