Funding-Metabolomics for a Low Carbon Society; A
Joint NSF-JST Program; May 31, 2011
Agency
National
Science Foundation
Description
This is a U.S.-
Japan joint program coordinated by the National Science Foundation and the
Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST). Proposals submitted in response to
this solicitation must represent joint projects involving both US and Japanese
research groups. JST and NSF will jointly manage the proposal review and award
process.
The "metabolome"
is the complete set of metabolites expressed within an organism. Its
composition is a reflection of the networks of enzymatic pathways encoded
within the genome as well as the interplay of developmental processes and a
changing environment over the lifetime of the organism. Metabolomics
has exciting applications in bioenergy, environmental
interactions, functional genomics and gene discovery, secondary metabolism,
genome-wide association mapping, systems biology and metabolic modeling in
plant, algal, and microbial systems. However, the scientific promise of metabolomics currently faces multiple challenges that need
to be addressed. These challenges include: how to define the metabolome, metabolite annotation, standardization of
spatially and temporally resolved sampling, measurement of metabolite flux,
dynamic range and depth-of-coverage, instrumentation and infrastructure,
informatics and databases.
The goal of this joint NSF-JST program is to
advance novel biological knowledge in metabolomics in
the areas of energy and the environment, and to foster greater collaborative
interactions between Japanese and U.S. scientists in these priority areas. The
focus of METABOLOMICS will be on plants, microbes, and algae and eligible
research areas will include but will not be limited to:
·
Capture
of all major metabolites
·
·
Development
of standards and annotation of unknown metabolites
·
·
Identification
of specialized metabolites of potential value
·
In recent years, metabolomics
has matured to the point where it is now possible to consider cataloging the
complete profiles of small molecules in cells. Such profiling is critically
important because these small molecule metabolites are the end products of gene
expression and represent the high-resolution biochemical phenotype of the cell,
tissue, and organism. Key goals of metabolomics
include 1) chemical annotation, i.e. determining the chemical structure of each
molecule, 2) biological annotation, i.e. connecting each metabolite to a
specific enzyme, biochemical pathway, or biological process, and 3) metabolomic annotation, i.e. the distribution of each
metabolite in different cells of an organism which includes spatial and
temporal information as well as concentration.
Announcement
Number:
nsf11527
Closing
Date:
May 13, 2011
Link
to Full Announcement
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2011/nsf11527/nsf11527.htm?WT.mc_id=USNSF_25&WT.mc_ev=click
Contact
Information
Bruce McClure, Program Director, IOS, 685N, telephone: (703) 292-8420, email: metabolomics@nsf.gov
Ellen L. Neidle,
Program Director, MCB, 655S, telephone: (703)
292-4599, email: metabolomics@nsf.gov