Concepts in Biology

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Concepts in Biology BIO AC Meeting, Oct. 18-19,
2007 Advancing innovation and competitiveness at
the convergence of the life and physical sciences
and engineering
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BIO at NSF Integrating with ACI
Biosphere
NSF Strategic Goals Discovery Learning
Research Infrastructure Stewardship
Amer. Comp. Init. (ACI) Fundamental
Research 21st Century Workforce
Transformative Facilities
Infrastructure Quality Merit Review
BIO Priorities Core Programs, Emerging
Frontiers Broadening participation
activities NEON, Plant Cyber Collaborative,
CEIN Transformative research, organizational
change / managing the core
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21st Century Innovation Will Rely on Biology
Discoveries at all levels of biology will
reverberate throughout science and provide the
transformational insights that will lead to
practical solutions in seemingly unrelated
research areas. (NRC Report)
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Biology Shaping the Future

• The 21st century will be The Age of Biology
  because classic grand challenges are now within
  reach.
• Biological information is exploding
• Ingenious new tools
• Non-biologists are turning to living systems
• BIO will advance the frontiers of knowledge at
  the intersection of the life and physical
  sciences and engineering

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Biology Shaping the Future

• Foster ACI relevant initiatives that support
  discovery at the intersection of the life and
  physical sciences
• Understanding the molecular basis of life
• Discovery From simple to complex a single gene
  change is responsible for generating a more
  complex multi-chambered heart.
• Discovery - Small RNAs are a ubiquitous, potent
  set of molecules that regulate cellular process
  including development, pathogen defense and
  stress response
• Improving our understanding of global climate
  variability and change
• (OMB/OSTP Letter)
• Discovery Research into Earths ancient climate
  reveals the importance of the biosphere in
  driving global change.

Core/ACI
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Managing the Core

• Concepts in Biology
• Origins Use Synthetic Biology to discover the
  molecular basis of life and develop and test
  models of emergent complexity
• Energy Expand knowledge of living
  energy-transduction systems to inform the
  development of new biology-based, renewable
  energy technologies.
• Adaptation Discover the underlying mechanisms
  that enable living organisms to survive, adapt
  to, and transform their environment.

Adaptation Ecological Forecasting
Discovery Crenarchaeota, the first discovered
nitrogen fixing archaea, are emerging as a major
driver of the global carbon and nitrogen cycles
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Origins How, where, and when did life on Earth
begin?
Open system chemistry
Model Digital Worlds
Charles Ofria, Claus O. Wilke (NSF/BIO)

• Where did the molecules necessary to begin life
  originate?
• How did the complex biological chemistry of
  life emerge from pre-biotic chemistry and
  geochemistry?
• Self-contained The Cell
• Self-sustaining - Energy
• Self-perpetuating - Reproduction and Evolution
• Are there alternative routes to life?

Encapsulated, self-sustaining biochemistry
Basic elements
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Origins How, where, and when did life on Earth
begin?
Stanley Miller
Life as we know it
Knowledge about the Last Universal Common
Ancestor for life on Earth will define
constraints on the pre-biotic conditions that
gave rise to life and will inform our
understanding of the onset and early evolution of
life. Can the indispensable requirements for
lifeincluding the pre-biotic conditions and
steps leading to lifebe revealed by Synthetic
Biology?
?
Transitions and transformations
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Energy How is energy obtained and used by living
systems to sustain life?
Biofuels
Applied Photosynthesis
Agrivida NSF/ENG SBIR
What are the systems by which life forms obtain
and use energy to sustain life? Understanding
the wide variety of energy transduction systems
will inspire and enable the development of
biology-based technologies capable of delivering
sustainable, renewable, efficient energy.
Barry Bruce ( NSF/BIO)
Assemble the basics
Chloroplast
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Energy How is energy obtained and used by living
systems to sustain life?
The discovery of new life forms on Earth will
enhance our knowledge of self-sustaining energy
systems. A vast microbial world has yet to be
incorporated into a fundamental concept of lifes
history.
Life as we know it.
Microbes two miles down derive energy from
radiation
Antarctica
Europa
Deep ocean
Tullis Onstott, Lisa Pratt (NSF/GEO)
Kilometers of water
Life as we dont know it.
Mars
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Adaptation in the Story of Life What has
survived and how?
Adaptation and survival
Extinction
Neo Martinez (NSF/BIO)

• How have some life forms survived geological and
  climate altering events and successfully adapted
  to a transformed biosphere?
• Knowledge of lifes resilience and adaptations to
  planetary change will require a theoretically and
  conceptually rich interdisciplinary effort.

Transformations
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Adaptation in the Story of Life What will
survive and how?

• Understanding lifes resilience and adaptation to
  planetary change will enable realistic
  predictions for the future of life on Earth in
  response to
• Global climate change NEON
• Human activities
• Disruptive events
• Fresh water depletion

Choices
Changes
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BIO Environmental Science

• Global Climate Change
• Climate Change and Disruptive Events
• Dynamics of Earths Water System
• Center for the Environmental Implications of
  Nanotechnology (CEIN)

Discovery Restoring marine biodiversity through
an ecosystem based management approach is
essential to avoid serious threats to global food
security, costal water quality and ecosystem
stability

• National Ecological Observatory Network
• Research and development of environmental sensors
  and sensor networks, cyberinfrastructure, and
  enabling technologies
• A goal of observing, modeling and analyzing a
  wide range of complex environmental systems.

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National Science Foundation Fiscal Year 2008
update
Waiting on a budget Operating under a continuing
resolution Not unusual for this time of year
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National Science Foundation Fiscal Year 2008
update

• FY 2008 Administrations request is 6.43
  Billion, a 6.8 increase over 2007
• Research and Related Activities is 5.13
  Billion, a 7.7 increase over 2007
• STATUS House and Senate appropriation bills
  provide for RRA funding similar to the
  administration request, but differ in extent of
  increased funding for Education and Human
  Resource (EHR) programs.
• Reflects emphasis on American Competitiveness
  Initiative

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National Science Foundation Fiscal Year 2008
update
FY 2008 Request
Research and Related Activities by directorate
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Challenges for the Future

• Conveying the message that biology is more than
  biomedicine
• Creating the Directorate of the future
• Managing novel research infrastructure in the
  context of long term research priorities
• National Ecological Observatory Network
• Plant Cyberinfrastructure

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NSFs Role
Goal Inspire a new generation of scientists,
engineers, and educators to create new knowledge
and technologies to sustain life on Earth, adapt
to a changing world, and explore our universe.
Why NSF Success requires collaborative
research and education across the range of
sciences and engineering uniquely encompassed by
NSF.
Physical anthropology, Archaeology
Chemistry, Geochemistry
Microbiology,Ecology
Engineering, Synthetic biology, Computational and
Mathematical modeling, Nanotechnology
Evolution, Astronomy, Astrobiology
Plant biology, Biochemistry
Time
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End of Presentation