Biological Sciences $525,620,000

The FY 2003 Budget Request for the Biological Sciences Activity (BIO) is $525.62 million, an increase of $17.21 million, or 3.4 percent, over the FY 2002 Current Plan of $508.41 million.

(Millions of Dollars)

Totals may not add due to rounding.

The Biological Sciences Activity provides support for research to advance understanding of the underlying principles and mechanisms governing life. Research ranges from the study of the structure and dynamics of biological molecules, such as proteins and nucleic acids, through cells, organs and organisms, to studies of populations and ecosystems. It encompasses both internal and external processes of organisms, and includes temporal frameworks ranging from measurements in real time through individual life spans, to the full scope of evolutionary time.

The biological sciences are undergoing a profound transformation. Recent advances in genomics, informatics, computer science, mathematics, physics, chemistry, engineering, and the earth and social sciences have spawned the 21^st Century Biology, which is:

• Multidimensional - addressing questions across several levels of analysis to understand how components assemble into wholes, be they cells, organisms or ecosystems;

• Multidisciplinary - requiring collaboration of biologists, physicists, mathematicians, computer scientists, geoscientists, chemists, social scientists and engineers to answer major questions about life;

• Data driven - using previously and continuously-gathered information, stored in large databases, to achieve ground-breaking discoveries; and

• Education-oriented - creating a new type of scientist, capable of working comfortably within multidisciplinary teams, through innovative educational programs from K-12 through postgraduate levels.

In FY 2003, the Emerging Frontiers Subactivity has been established to serve as an incubator for 21^st Century Biology. It will support multidisciplinary research and networking activities that arise from advances in disciplinary research. By encouraging synergy between disciplines, this new subactivity will provide a mechanism by which new initiatives will be fostered and subsequently integrated into core programs.

Since the early 1980s, the National Science Foundation has been the lead agency in the support of research using the model plant, Arabidopsis. Six groups in Europe, Japan, and the United States, led by the NSF with support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Energy, collaboratively completed sequencing the Arabidopsis genome in 2000, called The Arabidopsis Genome Initiative. With the announcement by a consortium of scientists, that the first plant genome had been completely sequenced, plant biologists had a major new enabling research resource and IN ADDITIONa way to identify the genetic basis for previously obtained experimental , THE ARABIDOPSIS GENOME SEQUENCE CAN NOW BE RELATED TO THE LARGE BASE OF EXPERIMENTALobservations. For example: OBSERVATIONS SUPPORTED BY PAST AND CURRENT BIO INITIATIVES

• Studies on the effect of the accumulation of mildly deleterious alleles in Arabidopsis led to a more thorough understanding of "mutational meltdown"; a process which may lead to an inability of the genome to respond to environmental stress, resulting in population extinction.

• A new model system was developed to study telomeres, structures that seal the ends of chromosomes in plants and animals much like the plastic tips on shoelaces, and which wear out, allowing the "lace" to fray. Telomeres break down in most cells in the human body over time and have been implicated in aging. By exploiting the completed genome sequence of Arabidopsis, it will be possible to uncover the contributions of the DNA damage surveillance machinery in identifying dysfunctional telomeres.

Research on the species diversity, evolutionary history, and complex life cycles of fungi that live inside the stems and leaves of grass species utilized gene-sequence comparisons to identify several new fungal species. The fungal species differentially affected seed-set in the grass host, and could also induce the accumulation of alkaloids, which may be toxic to livestock and other herbivores. These results provided important guidance to agriculturists and horticulturists concerned with livestock pasturage and turf grass management.

Sequence data is essential but is not enough to tell us everything about how an organism develops and functions. Using genome sequence information in combination with data from other biological research, biologists can now tackle the next frontier in biology, functional genomics, to determine what genes do - that is, how patterns of sequence are related to patterns of function.

To capture the unprecedented opportunities offered by functional genomics, in FY 2001 BIO began the next phase of the Arabidopsis project, a major program in functional genomics, the "2010 Project." The goal is to determine the functions of the 25,000 genes of the flowering plant, Arabidopsis by 2010. Projects include applying the latest bioinformatic software tools to fill a publicly accessible web database cataloguing gene functions related to nitrogen metabolism. Because nitrogen is a key element in the biosphere and essential for the growth of all plants, this research will have a broad impact on the understanding of plant growth and reproduction.

Another area where BIO provides the major support for the 21^st Century Biology is environmental biology. Funded projects have increased our understanding of ecological systems and provided insights useful for resource managers. The examples below have important implications for the conservation of endangered species.

• With over 80,000 species of vascular plants in the Amazon, identifying pollen collected from this region can be extremely difficult. In a high-risk project, researchers are creating the first computer-based key and digital image guide for Amazonian pollen, which will be a powerful new tool for identifying, studying, and conserving tropical biodiversity.

• Studies with loggerhead turtle hatchlings provided the first direct experimental evidence that animals can derive positional information from the earth's magnetic field. If hatchling turtles imprint on the magnetic features of their native beach, it may not be possible to introduce turtles to new beaches. In addition, sources of magnetic disruption near nesting beaches may prevent females from locating their native beach for nesting. These findings are likely to provide insight into the guidance systems of other migratory animals such as salmon birds and marine mammals.

A recent study utilized data on plant productivity from 11 LTER sites, with datasets ranging from 6 to 23 years in length. Results showed that rainfall patterns and species primarily determined plant productivity across the continental US. Grasslands exhibited the greatest year-to-year variability, while forests were the least variable. This pioneering study demonstrated the value of long-term datasets for understanding important ecological processes, as well as the difficulties in conducting such large cross-site synthesis studies. In a parallel study, model simulations of long-term surface hydrology similarly show that the central U.S., dominated by grasslands, exhibits the largest regional water balance variations in the country. These studies provide valuable information for land and resource managers and planners.

Networking research and researchers is a key feature of 21^st Century Biology. The "Deep Green" project offers a particularly good example of the benefits of networking. During the past five years, this collaboratory, established to resolve the genealogy of the green plants, grew to include over 200 scientists in 12 countries. Armed with powerful computational and molecular tools and the conceptual underpinnings of modern systematic biology, this project made radical new discoveries about the history of plant life on earth. The findings of the project significantly rearranged the "family tree" of green plants since it was learned that ferns and horsetail are not as currently believed, transitional between mosses and flowering plants. They are in fact the closest living relatives to seed plants. Ramifications of these findings span practical areas ranging from agriculture to economics.

In FY 2003, the BIO Activity funding will increase by a total of $17.21 million. This will allow enhanced support for research in the priority areas: Biocomplexity in the Environment, Information Technology Research, Nanoscale Science and Engineering, Learning for the 21^st Century Workforce and Mathematical Sciences. BIO will also provide enhanced support for areas of emerging opportunity in 21^st Century Biology such as: the `2010' project, genome-enabled science, systems biology, and a new program, Integrated Research Challenges in Biology. BIO will reduce support for selected programs in order to increase support in these evolving areas of opportunity in biology.

Support of Priority Areas: The FY 2003 Budget Request includes an increase of $21.47 million for priority areas. The NSF-wide priority areas will be supported out of the new Subactivity for Emerging Frontiers (EF) in order to introduce new ideas into these model 21^st Century Biology activities. The EF Subactivity will provide a mechanism through which the priority areas can be integrated with disciplinary activities.

Biocomplexity in the Environment (BE): BE research examines phenomena that arise as a result of dynamic interactions that occur within biological systems and between these systems and the physical environment. BIO support for BE totals $35.86 million in FY 2003, an increase of $18.96 million. Support will be continued for the NSF-wide competition. Increases will be used to enhance three focused activities:

• $4.0 million, for a total of $6.0 million, for research on the Ecology of Infectious Diseases. This activity builds on an interagency effort begun in 2000 among NSF, NIH, the USGS, NASA and USDA. The goal of the expanded FY 2003 effort is to encourage the development of predictive models and discovery of the principles for relationships between environmental factors and the transmission of infectious agents. Funded research will focus on understanding the ecological determinants of transmission by vectors or abiotic agents, the population dynamics of reservoir species, and transmission to humans or other hosts. Of special interest will be projects that address the ecological dynamics of organisms and conditions that could be employed in bioterrorism. The potential benefits of interdisciplinary research in this area include: development of disease transmission models, improved understanding of unintended health effects of environmental changes, increased capacity to forecast outbreaks, and improved understanding of how diseases (re)emerge.

• $10.80 million, for a total of $15.0 million, for Microbial Sequencing projects, which conduct high-throughput sequencing of the genomes of selected microorganisms including viruses, bacteria, archaea, fungi, and protozoa. The microorganisms are chosen based on their fundamental biological interest, importance to the productivity and sustainability of agriculture and forestry, relevance to the safety and quality of the nation's food or water supply, or potential as agents of bioterrorism. Genome sequence information provides the foundation for understanding how organisms function and live, and how organisms interact with the environment and with other organisms. This knowledge can be used to detect unknown microorganisms and to understand their properties, e.g. why an organism may be pathogenic or beneficial to a plant or animal, or how its properties might be exploited industrially.

• In FY 2003, BIO will provide $7.43 million in BE to support the Tree of Life (ToL) Project. Capitalizing on new and powerful computational and genomic technologies, biologists plan to construct a universal genealogy for all 1.7 million named species of living organisms on earth. The goal is to complete the Tree within 10 years. The "family tree" will elucidate the relationships of all species of life, providing the infrastructure to guide research in many biological sub-disciplines. Coordination, sharing of data and analytical software, provision for collecting and vouchering of samples from hard-to-obtain species, and training of researchers in cross-disciplinary skills will characterize Tree of Life projects. Inter-disciplinary, inter-agency, and international collaborations will also be required. Conceptual challenges in integrating genomic data in comparisons of thousands of species will attract biologists, mathematicians, software engineers, applied researchers, germplasm officers, and natural resource managers.

Information Technology Research (ITR): In FY 2003, BIO will increase funding for ITR by $720,000 to $6.80 million to support:

• Research as part of the BIO emphasis area in genome-enabled science. Examples include: exploiting the power and storage capacity of the DNA molecule for computing; support for microbial genome databases and algorithms for designing, managing, and linking primary databases, and development of new tools for microbial genomics; as part of the Tree of Life, development of innovative data base structures (both hardware and software) that support distributed storage of very dense files of genetic sequence and genomic data; development of relational authority files (databases); development of real time information networks linking researchers worldwide engaged in Tree of Life research.

• Research as part of the BIO emphasis area in systems biology, including modeling and assimilation of biological data, and improved access to this data; modeling of complex, multiscale, and interactive systems in biology; development of robust models to describe biological processes at multiple scales ranging from molecules to the global environment; and development of informatics tools necessary to enhance the predictive ability and broad applicability of these models.

Nanoscale Science and Engineering (NSE): In FY 2003, funding will be increased by $650,000 to $2.98 million. Support will be for:

• Research focused on studying the structure and regulation of macromolecular machines and macromolecular complexes that are capable of self-replication and self-assembly within living organisms. DNA, RNA, lipids, and carbohydrates that make up these molecular machines can generate a wide range of minute, self-assembled three-dimensional structures and perform a wide range of functions in a diversity of living systems. Such naturally occurring molecular machines can serve as prototypes or suggest models for nanoscience and technology.

• Research on nanoscale biosensors and information processors, which could provide new opportunities for understanding cellular communication and detection of environmentally important signals.

Learning for the 21^st Century Workforce: Support for this priority area totals $1.93 million in FY 2003. BIO will increase stipend support for NSF Graduate Teaching Fellows in the GK-12 Education program as well as continue support for the Interagency Education Research Initiative, a collaborative program with the Department of Education and the National Institutes of Health.

Mathematical Sciences: BIO will provide $910,000 in FY 2003 to support interdisciplinary research involving mathematics, science and engineering, and focused on mathematical and statistical challenges posed by large data sets, managing and modeling uncertainty, and modeling complex, non-linear systems.

Support for other Opportunity Areas: The FY 2003 Budget Request also includes an increase in support for other areas of opportunity in 21^st Century Biology. The "2010" Project and Integrated Research Challenges in Biology are two of those opportunities.

• "2010 Project": In FY 2003, an increase of $5.0 million, for a total of $25.0 million, provides support for the next stage of the "2010 Project." With the completion of the genome of the model plant Arabidopsis, researchers began a systematic effort in FY 2001 to determine the functions of the 25,000 genes of this flowering plant. Scientists anticipate that the "2010 Project" will lead to construction of an integrated database of a "virtual plant" that will allow predictive approaches to the science of plant biology. The transfer of knowledge from research supported in this area is almost instantaneous to the private sector, as biotechnology companies seek to transform this information into better products for society, from food to pharmaceuticals to environmentally benign products.

• Integrated Research Challenges in Biology will be launched in FY 2003 as part of the new Emerging Frontiers Subactivity. The goal of the program will be to sponsor integrative research between biologists and physical and social scientists and engineers on major biological research questions. Integrative components will include various investigators, skills, processes, organisms and/or systems. Relevant scientific questions will be those recognized both as major challenges in one or more sub-disciplines of biology and as beyond the scope of traditional single-investigator or small-team approaches.

Strategic Goals

BIO's support for ongoing core and new activities contributes to NSF'S efforts to achieve its strategic goals, and to the administration and management activities necessary to achieve those goals:

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¹ Includes only costs charged to the R&RA Appropriation

People

BIO places a high priority on programs to develop a diverse, internationally competitive workforce of scientists, engineers and well-prepared citizens. These programs seek to achieve a participation in biology that reflects the diversity of the U.S. population. This emphasis ensures that the next generation of scientists will be adequately prepared for a scientific future that increasingly blurs borders between scientific disciplines, and that is increasingly dependent on technology and on the sharing and analysis of information from distributed resources. These efforts also aid in the development of a scientifically and technologically literate populace.

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Support for People programs will increase by $2.62 million, or 5.5 percent over FY 2002. A total of $14.07 million will be used to support undergraduate activities to broaden participation in science. Examples of some of the programs supported include Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU); Undergraduate Mentorships in Environmental Biology (UMEB), begun in FY 1995 specifically to encourage participation of underrepresented groups within environmental biology; and Collaborative Research at Undergraduate Institutions (C-RUI), which supports new multidisciplinary collaborative research groups at primarily undergraduate institutions. Each group is composed of faculty members representing at least two disciplinary areas and includes up to 10 undergraduates.

A total of $36.13 million will be used to support graduate, postdoctoral, and professional-level programs, including the NSF Graduate Teaching Fellowships in K-12 Education (GK-12) program. BIO increases its contribution to the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training program in FY 2003 by $2.39 for a total of $9.17 million and continues support for the ADVANCE program at $2.43 million. ADVANCE is designed to increase the participation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers.

Postdoctoral research fellowships are supported within BIO in priority areas where there are shortages of adequately trained scientists. BIO will invest a total of $5.60 million in FY 2003 for postdoctoral training, including continuing support for the minority postdoctoral program, the biological informatics postdoctoral program, and the postdoctoral fellowship program in microbial biology.

Ideas

The Biological Sciences Activity provides support for research to advance understanding of the underlying principles and mechanisms governing life. BIO's support for discovery spans all the biological disciplines. BIO-supported research effectively builds the knowledge base for resolution of societal concerns in areas as diverse as food, nutrition, agriculture, protection of the environment, and education.

Disciplinary Research: Functional genomics is revolutionizing biological research in all areas. This emerging multidisciplinary area provides a new paradigm in biology by linking sequence data to the biological functions at the cellular, organismal, ecological, and evolutionary levels. For example, functional genomics tools allow researchers to conduct sequence comparisons among several different species to determine which genes are common to all life forms and which genes are unique to specific species. Identifying the function of genes has great practical applications, for example, in developing improved or novel crop plants of added value.

Through the new Emerging Frontiers Subactivity, BIO will provide priority support to areas of emerging importance, such as Genome Enabled Science and Systems Biology.

• Genome Enabled Science encompasses three levels of activity:
  1. genome sequencing and the assembly of primary sequence databases;
  2. functional analyses, also known as "functional genomics"; and
  3. integrative research.
• Systems Biology takes advantage of two areas of opportunity in biological sciences:
  1. integrative research focused on complex biological systems; and
  2. enhanced opportunities for integrating rapidly accumulating, massive amounts and disparate kinds of data into understanding biological processes.

The NSF priority areas of Biocomplexity in the Environment (BE), Information Technology Research (ITR), Nanoscale Science and Engineering, and Mathematical Sciences represent important areas of emerging scientific importance where funding is needed to build support for research, infrastructure, and education. Sequencing capabilities and informatics tools are opening the door toward an understanding of the workings of genes in plants and other organisms. Likewise instrumentation, databases, and enhanced support for collaborative projects across disciplines have begun to encourage development of research programs and teams of researchers that are attempting to understand the complexity of biological systems, from the inner workings of the cell to the complexities of interacting components within a large ecosystem.

Modern biological science increasingly involves teams of scientists and students at all levels of education, and requires increasing access to supplies, equipment, and data, the latter often requiring the ability to access, analyze, and visualize remote databases. For these reasons, the cost of modern biological research is increasing sharply. BIO will continue to increase award size.

Centers: BIO-supported centers are another important component in its portfolio of activities. The BIO centers facilitate the development of new knowledge and techniques and include Science and Technology Centers (STCs), the Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (CEAS), Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites, and Plant Genome Virtual Centers. In FY 2003, BIO will maintain support for all centers.

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In FY 2001, a new STC, the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience at Emory University, received its first year of support. This center is jointly supported with the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Activity. The scientific goals of the center involve understanding how neural processes regulate and are regulated by complex social behaviors across animal species. Collaborating institutions include Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Atlanta University Center. Results of this research may transform the way we think about how hormones influence behavior, how genes are regulated, and how neural processes adapt to different environmental demands.

The Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (CEAS), established in FY 1995 and recompeted in FY 1999, promotes integrative studies of complex ecological questions and serves as a locus for synthesis of large data sets.  The goals of the Center are to advance the state of ecological knowledge through the search for universal patterns and principles and to organize and synthesize ecological information so that it will be useful in addressing important environmental problems.

In FY 2003, NSF will support 24 Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites, which are representative of major ecosystems. Four sites are located in coastal ecosystems, two are in human-dominated, urban ecosystems, and the remaining 18 sites cover a broad range of ecosystems including the Arctic tundra of Alaska, the deserts of New Mexico, the rainforests of Puerto Rico, and the Dry Valleys of Antarctica. BIO provides support for 21 of these sites. The Office of Polar Programs (OPP), Geosciences and Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Activities support the other three sites. This support will be slightly increased in FY 2003. No additional sites will be established during FY 2003.

The Plant Genome Research Subactivity supports virtual centers (centers without walls) or collaboratories where coordinated, multi-investigator teams pursue comprehensive plant genome research programs relevant to economically important plants or plant processes. Currently active centers range in size and scope, some with a focus on functional genomics and others with a focus on developing tools and resources for plant genomics studies for the scientific community. For example, one center's goal is to identify all the plant genes encoding plant responses to drought and salinity stresses. Another center is aimed at providing specialized plant materials and structural genome data to identify and map maize (corn) genes. All centers have a significant component to train a new generation of scientists well versed in plant genomics, as well as outreach to increase public understanding of science.

Tools

Support for the Tools programs will increase by $4.77 million for a total of $52.04 million. In FY 2003, BIO will increase support for research resources by $1.77 million for a total of $47.94 million. The BIO Activity supports research resources for the biological sciences that include databases, multi-user instrumentation, development of instrumentation and new techniques, living stock centers, marine laboratories, and terrestrial field stations. Support for infrastructure ranging from databases and the informatics tools and techniques needed to manage them to instrumentation development are essential for all areas of research, including the priority areas.

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FY 2003 will be the first year of support for the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON). Operational support for two prototype NEON observatories will be provided. In addition, strategic planning and coordination activities will occur. The architecture for the IT infrastructure will be designed and evaluated using the prototype observatories. Construction funding for the NEON prototypes is discussed in the Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC) section.

Administration and Management

Administration and management provides for administrative activities necessary to enable NSF to achieve its strategic goals. This includes the cost of Intergovernmental Personnel Act appointments and contractors performing administrative functions.

Number of People Involved in BIO Activities

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BIO Funding Profile

¹ Statistics for award size and duration are for Research Grants only.

Changes in Budget Structure

The Biological Sciences Activity is restructured in FY 2003 to include an additional Subactivity, Emerging Frontiers (EF), which will support multidisciplinary research and networking activities that arise from advances in disciplinary research. Integrated Research Challenges in Biology, Research Coordination Networks, and NSF-wide priority areas will be funded through EF. A crosswalk of the FY 2002 current plan is shown below.