Biosystems Design to Enable Safe Production of Next-Generation Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biomaterials | DE FOA 0002600

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0002600

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science, through the Biological and Environmental Research (BER) program and its Biosystems Design (BSSD) activities, is soliciting grant applications under Funding Opportunity Announcement DE-FOA-0002600 titled "Biosystems Design to Enable Safe Production of Next-Generation Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biomaterials." The opportunity sits squarely in BERs mission of supporting fundamental, interdisciplinary science that can deliver predictive, systems-level understanding of biological and environmental processes tied to energy security and environmental stewardship. In practical terms, DOE is looking to fund foundational research that makes it easier to understand, predict, manipulate, and ultimately design biological systems so they can convert renewable biomass, captured atmospheric CO2, and even petroleum-derived polymers into fuels, valuable chemicals, and new materials in ways that are both efficient and safe. A central theme is accelerating the "design, build, test, learn" (DBTL) cycle, where improved engineering tools do not just produce better engineered organisms, but also reveal the underlying principles that govern how those organisms function.

A major emphasis of the announcement is integrative, multidisciplinary systems biology grounded in multi-omics (for example genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics) and paired with advanced computation. DOE highlights that recent advances in synthetic biology, high-throughput experimentation, and artificial intelligence have dramatically sped up the DBTL loop. This FOA is essentially asking teams to push that momentum further by building new genome-scale design and editing capabilities, high-throughput platforms for testing and phenotyping, and the modeling and algorithms needed to interpret large datasets and improve predictive accuracy. The end goal is not incremental strain or crop improvement, but transformative technology development and fundamental knowledge that expands what biology can be engineered to do, while supporting a sustainable and secure bioeconomy.

Applicants must align their proposals with one of two topic areas: microbial biosystems design or plant biosystems design. The microbial topic calls for genome-wide design and editing approaches and in vivo, cell-free, or other advanced engineering methods for either prokaryotic or eukaryotic microbes. The intended applications include producing biofuels, bioproducts, and biomaterials from lignocellulosic biomass, from petroleum-derived synthetic polymers (including breaking them down and converting them into useful products), or as a byproduct of photosynthesis. DOE expects proposals to create highly innovative, high-throughput biological design and test platforms that are tightly integrated with modeling and computational tool development. Proposers are encouraged to expand beyond the usual "workhorse" organisms by developing new or emerging model systems that broaden the set of platform microbes available for engineering. There is also explicit interest in genome engineering strategies that couple product formation with carbon benefits, such as organisms that efficiently produce chemicals or materials while sequestering atmospheric CO2.

Within microbial biosystems design, DOE provides illustrative areas of interest that signal the level of ambition expected. These include engineering new functional modules like biosensors, tunable genetic circuits, and subcellular compartmentalization (including intercellular and cell-free systems) to enable synthesis of target products; creating orthogonal metabolic, signaling, or macromolecular synthesis pathways that allow cells to perform processes not found in nature; designing recoded, minimal, or synthetic genomes with novel behaviors; engineering microbes that can degrade petroleum-based polymers and upcycle them into higher-value outputs; and developing microorganisms that can produce biominerals or inorganic-organic composites, including "living materials" that combine inorganic components with living cells to yield properties absent in known organisms.

The plant topic focuses on engineering plant systems to enable sustainable production of biofuels, bioproducts, and biomaterials, with an additional emphasis on improving bioenergy crop performance in marginal environments and increasing biomass yield while making biomass easier to deconstruct and convert. DOE points to concrete crop design targets such as improved abiotic stress tolerance (for example drought, salinity, temperature extremes), higher water and nutrient use efficiency, enhanced photosynthetic capacity, and modifications that facilitate cell wall deconstruction and downstream conversion into advanced fuels and products. The FOA also includes engineering plants to directly produce bioproducts or biomaterials as an explicit goal area. As with the microbial topic, plant proposals are expected to combine experimental innovation with computation: technologies for introducing and stably expressing large multigene constructs, genome-wide editing and recombineering approaches, and high-throughput phenotyping systems supported by modeling and design methods. DOE also encourages epigenetic engineering approaches aimed at programmable, tunable genome-wide control of gene expression, signaling that they are open to strategies beyond sequence edits alone.

Importantly, DOE asks applicants to keep work on traditional model plants to a minimum and to focus primarily on potential or emerging bioenergy crops. The FOA explicitly names examples such as switchgrass, poplar, Miscanthus, eucalyptus, sorghum, energy cane, and non-food oilseed crops. This reflects a desire to move enabling technologies and fundamental understanding closer to real bioenergy-relevant species, while still keeping the work within the bounds of fundamental research rather than product commercialization.

From an administrative and eligibility standpoint, this is a discretionary grant opportunity in the Science and Technology and other Research and Development category (CFDA 81.049), released by the DOE Office of Science. The FOA was created on December 9, 2021, with an original closing date of April 7, 2022. The listed award ceiling is $25,000,000. Eligibility is broad across applicant types, with one notable exclusion: 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations that have engaged in lobbying activities after December 31, 1995 are not eligible. Federally affiliated entities have additional restrictions: DOE/NNSA National Laboratories, non-DOE/NNSA Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs), and other federal agencies cannot apply as the prime recipient, but they may participate as subrecipients under an eligible prime applicant. If selected, their funding may be handled through DOE field-work mechanisms or interagency agreements, and special authorization and contracting officer approvals apply as described in the FOA.

Overall, the opportunity is best understood as DOE BERs push to expand the core toolkit of modern biosystems engineering, marrying multi-omics, high-throughput experimentation, and predictive computation to create safer, more capable biological systems. Whether the platform is microbial or plant-based, DOE is aiming for foundational advances that shorten the DBTL loop, broaden the range of engineerable organisms, and enable new routes to sustainable fuels, chemicals, and materials, including pathways that incorporate carbon capture or polymer upcycling as part of the biological design challenge.

• The Office of Science in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Biosystems Design to Enable Safe Production of Next-Generation Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biomaterials" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.049.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2021-12-09.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2022-04-07. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $25,000,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

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