Biotechnology, Biochemical, and Biomass Engineering

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The Biotechnology, Biochemical, and Biomass Engineering (BBBE) program supports fundamental engineering research that advances the understanding of cellular and biomolecular processes (in vivo, in vitro, and/or ex vivo) and eventually leads to the development of enabling technology and/or applications in support of the biopharmaceutical, biotechnology, and bioenergy industries, or with applications in health or the environment. Quantitative assessments of bioprocesses are considered vital to successful research projects in the BBBE program. Fundamental to many research projects in this area is the understanding of how biomolecules and cells interact in their environment, and how those molecular level interactions lead to changes in structure, function, phenotype, and/or behavior. The program encourages proposals that address emerging research areas and technologies that effectively integrate knowledge and practices from different disciplines, and effectively incorporate ongoing research into educational activities. Research projects of particular interest in BBBE include, but are not limited to: Metabolic engineering and synthetic biologyQuantitative systems biotechnologyTissue engineering and stem cell culture technologiesProtein engineering/protein designDevelopment of novel "omics" tools for biotechnology applicationsProposals in the areas of nanobiotechnology, fermentation, cell culture, recombinant DNA, and enzyme technology will still be accepted given that they represent highly innovative and potentially transformative research in these areas. Proposals outside of these specific interest areas will be considered; however the PI should contact the Program Director prior to submission.Proposals should address the novelty of the concept being proposed, compared to previous work in the field. Also, it is important to address why the novelty might be important in terms of engineering science, as well as to also project the potential impact on society and /or industry of success in the research. The information requested in this paragraph should be included, as a minimum, in the Project Summary of each proposal.The duration of unsolicited awards is generally one to three years. The average annual award size for the program is $100,000 for individual investigators and $200,000 for multiple investigators. Any proposal received outside the announced dates will be returned without review.The duration of Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program awards is five years and the award maximum size is $400,000. The submission deadline for Engineering CAREER proposals is in July every year. Please see the following URL for more information: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=503214 Proposals for Conferences, Workshops, and Supplements may be submitted at any time, but must be discussed with the program director before submission.Grants for Rapid Response Research (RAPID) and EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) replace the SGER program. Please note that proposals of these types must be discussed with the program director before submission. Further details are available in the PAPPG download. .

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