FOA-FY2021 FICUS Research with JGI and EMSL; March 18, 2020

 

Agency

US Department of Energy – Office of Science – Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL)

 

Description

Letters of Intent (LOI) for collaborative research applications with the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) and the Joint Genome Institute (JGI) are being accepted until March 18, 2020 at 11:00 PM (PDT). This call is part of the Facilities Integrating Collaborations for User Science (FICUS) program – a collaboration that was developed between user facilities stewarded by the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER). FICUS was established in 2014 to encourage and enable researchers to more easily integrate the expertise and capabilities of multiple user facilities into their research and represented a unique opportunity for researchers to combine the power of genomics and molecular characterization in one proposed research project.

 

In addition, the call for FY2021 proposals includes two new opportunities: 1) an interdepartmental pilot program with the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II), an Office of Basic Energy Sciences user facility, to provide limited access to the X-ray Fluorescence Microprobe (XFM) Beamline; and 2) an interagency pilot program with the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), a National Science Foundation observational network of terrestrial and aquatic sites across the US, for use of seasonal soil samples archived in the NEON Biorepository.  Focused Topic Areas:

• Biofuels, biomaterials and bioproducts – Projects should be aimed at characterizing biological processes (including those derived via synthetic biology approaches) that are relevant to biofuels, biomaterials and bioproducts production, and connecting these processes to genomics-based analyses in DOE-relevant plants, algae, fungi, bacteria, archaea and viruses. Relevant biological processes include biosynthesis and deconstruction of plant polymers, especially lignocellulose, and production of metabolites that are precursors of biofuels, biomaterials, and/or non-pharmaceutical bioproducts. Proposals for projects investigating organisms and/or biological products involved in plant-microbial interactions that impact biofuel and bioproduct feedstock productivity are also encouraged.
• Biogeochemistry – Projects should focus on the cycling and transport of elements and molecular compounds in soils, atmosphere, aquatic sediments and the subsurface, or on their involvement in regulatory/metabolic processes of plants, algae, fungi, bacteria, archaea and viruses. Proposals should seek to illuminate key biogeochemical processes through which these organisms and their communities influence the cycling of biogeochemically critical elements, as well as the transformation and transport of contaminants. Such projects should seek to link microbial populations, genes and traits to molecular biochemistry.
• Inter-organismal interactions – Projects should explore the exchange of carbon, nitrogen and other elements among plants, algae, fungi, bacteria, archaea and viruses in above and below ground ecosystems and their interfaces, as well as investigate signaling, cooperation or competition via physical or chemical means. Proposals for projects studying the impact of genetic diversity within plant populations on plant-associated microbial communities and plant-microbial interactions are also encouraged, as are those structurally or functionally characterizing secondary metabolites and their associated biosynthetic pathways potentially involved in cell-cell interactions.
• Novel applications of molecular techniques – Projects should be aimed at stretching the boundaries of scientific integration of capabilities across the user facilities. Outcomes should have long-term benefits to DOE/BER missions involving biofuels, biomaterials and bioproducts production, plant-microbe interactions and nutrient exchange, ecosystem resilience or plasticity in response to environmental stress, and land-atmosphere exchanges and feedbacks. Structural and functional characterization of novel proteins (e.g., enzymes), compounds (e.g., secondary metabolites) or biomaterials produced by genes found in (meta)genomic data, as well as assignment of function to uncultivated organisms, are of particular interest. For high-risk exploratory studies aimed at assessing the general feasibility or establishing proof of principle for a proposed approach or study design, the scope should be limited to a scale required to demonstrate novel results, with the possibility of expanded support after successful completion.  
• Utilize soils from the NEON Biorepository and EMSL/JGI capabilities to conduct continental scale ecosystem research – Projects should investigate the soil chemistry and soil microbial communities across NEON sites along climate/vegetation gradients or seasonal variation at specific sites. NEON, the National Ecological Observatory Network, is a national network of terrestrial and aquatic sites located across the US, including Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico that captures more than 180 data products collected either continuously or with vast seasonal standardized sampling campaigns including soils.  

Announcement Number

N/A

 

Closing Date

LOI: March 18, 2020

 

Link to Full Announcement

https://www.emsl.pnnl.gov/emslweb/call-fy2021-letters-intent-ficus-research-jgi-and-emsl

 

Contact Information

Terry Law

(509)-371-6201

terry.law@pnnl.gov