Project Grant 2512961
- Federal Project Grant Award Summary William Marsh Rice University received a $500,000 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems under the Engineering program (CFDA 47.041), effective September 1, 2025, through August 31, 2028. The research project focuses on developing innovative methods to enhance the therapeutic protein secretion capacity of engineered cells for direct injection-based therapeutic...
- Summary of Federal Project Grant Award William Marsh Rice University received a $986,944 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074), effective September 1, 2025 through August 31, 2028. The TOOLS4CELLS project will develop a safe, programmable self-replicating RNA (sRRNA) system for transient protein production in bacteria. Leveraging the replicative machinery of single-stranded RNA bacteriophages and incorporating regulatory...
- Federal Project Grant Award Summary William Marsh Rice University received $828,803 in federal funding from the National Science Foundation's Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) for a project titled "Deciphering the Dynamics of the Unfolded Protein Response." The award, effective August 15, 2025, with completion targeted for July 31, 2028, supports fundamental research aimed at understanding how cells determine their fate...
- Federal Grant Award Summary This $1,998,147 project grant, awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Engineering under the Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) on August 15, 2025, supports the development of an innovative biocomputing platform at Rice University. The research will create engineered bacterial consortia capable of performing parallel biological computing through integrated chemical and electronic signaling networks. The primary deliverable is the...
- Federal Project Grant Award Summary William Marsh Rice University received a $140,000 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation under the Engineering program (CFDA 47.041), effective September 1, 2025, through August 31, 2028. This award supports the development of risk-sensitive learning-augmented adaptive control algorithms designed to address operational challenges in complex networked systems. The research will advance...
- Federal Grant Award Summary William Marsh Rice University received a $1.2 million CAREER award from the National Science Foundation's Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences (Biological Sciences program, CFDA 47.074) for the period July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2030. The award supports fundamental research investigating bacterial deaminase toxin families (BADTFs)—a recently discovered group of DNA-targeting toxins used by bacteria to antagonize competitors within microbial communities....
- William Marsh Rice University was awarded a $425,741 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems on February 15, 2021 to develop novel mammalian cell-based devices that sense and respond. The award has a completion date of January 31, 2024. The funding is provided through the NSF Directorate for Engineering's Engineering program (CFDA 47.041), which seeks to improve quality of life and economic strength through...
- Federal Grant Award Summary William Marsh Rice University received a $345,625 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems under the Engineering program (CFDA 47.041), effective September 1, 2025 through August 31, 2028. This collaborative research initiative will develop advanced polymeric membranes and experimental methodologies to enable precise control and measurement of pore and void structures within...
- Federal Grant Award Summary William Marsh Rice University received a $340,000 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Division of Mathematical Sciences under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049) for the period of September 1, 2025, through August 31, 2028. This collaborative research award supports the development of mathematical modeling techniques and experimental methods to understand spatiotemporal dynamics of intercellular signaling in engineered...
- Federal Grant Award Summary TOOLS4CELLS: Harnessing the Plasmidome for Environmental Engineering of Microbial Communities Rice University received a $623,295 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074), effective August 1, 2025 through July 31, 2028. The research project will develop novel methods to isolate, characterize, and engineer plasmids—circular DNA elements that enable...
Project Grant Summary William Marsh Rice University received a $521,194 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Engineering, Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems Division (CFDA 47.041) for the period July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2029. The research project will develop CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) interference and activation (CRISPRai) control systems to engineer mammalian cell factories capable of dynamically modulating the unfolded protein response (UPR) during therapeutic protein manufacturing. The primary deliverables include the creation of smart cell platforms with internal sensors and feedback control loops that monitor and respond to endoplasmic reticulum stress, thereby maintaining cellular viability and productivity during high-volume antibody and protein production while mitigating cell death triggered by protein overexpression. The project will advance fundamental understanding of protein secretion mechanisms while developing practical biomanufacturing platforms to improve productivity in mammalian cell-based protein production. Additionally, the award incorporates workforce development components providing training and research opportunities for local Houston-area high school students and teachers, supporting STEM education aligned with national biomanufacturing industry needs. The three-year initiative directly addresses current manufacturing challenges in the therapeutic protein sector, where conventional trial-and-error approaches to managing protein misfolding have yielded minimal productivity gains.
Mod # | Description | ReasonForModification | Federal Obligation | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Not listed | $521.2k | 6/30/26 |