New Funding Opportunity: Bioinspired Design Collaborations to Accelerate the Discovery-Translation Process (BioDesign)

Through the new BioDesign Dear Colleague Letter (DCL), the Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) Program (23-538) aims to facilitate the translation of knowledge generated through research in the biological and engineering sciences to solutions and prototypes needed for societal and economic impacts.

This BioDesign DCL seeks to:

  • Encourage early-stage, transdisciplinary collaboration of two or more investigators doing research in biological and engineering sciences with the potential for bioinspired design applications; and
  • Accelerate the translation of research findings into projects with potential societal and economic impacts that could be ready for commercialization.

To support these objectives, all participating programs in this BioDesign DCL invite both (a) full proposals to the specific programs, and (b) supplemental funding requests to existing awards that

  1. test hypotheses about the functioning of living things that are of interest to biologists and engineers,
  2. create an iterative process that generates ongoing feedback between the workflows of foundational and use-inspired research in order to design a device, machine, algorithm, and/or a workflow that solves a practical problem, and
  3. develop prototypes based on these activities as part of a process of exploring pathways to larger societal and economic benefits.

This is a collaborative initiative across the Directorates for Biological Science (BIO), Engineering (ENG), and Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP), and aligns with the growing focus on Biotechnology as a key emerging technology area.

Investigators are strongly encouraged to speak to a participating program director listed within the DCL before submitting a proposal or supplemental funding request.

Learn more in Dear Colleague Letter: Bioinspired Design Collaborations to Accelerate the Discovery-Translation Process (BioDesign)

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