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To address ecological questions that cannot be resolved with short-term observations or experiments, NSF established the Long-Term Ecological Research Program (LTER) in 1980. Two components differentiate LTER research from projects supported by other NSF programs: 1) the research is located at specific sites chosen to represent major ecosystem types or natural biomes, and 2) it emphasizes the study of ecological phenomena over long periods of time based on data collected in five core areas. Long-term studies are critical to achieve an integrated understanding of how components of ecosystems interact as well as to test ecological theory. Ongoing research at LTER sites contributes to the development and testing of fundamental ecological theories and significantly advances understanding of the long-term dynamics of populations, communities and ecosystems. It often integrates multiple disciplines and, through cross-site interactions may examine patterns or processes over broad spatial scales. Recognizing that the value of long-term data extends beyond use at any individual site, NSF requires that data collected by all LTER sites be made publicly accessible. The LTER program has long recognized the importance of humans in ecological systems and is especially interested in how human activities in urban settings interact with natural processes to determine ecological outcomes. Factors that control urban ecosystems are not only environmental, but also social and economic. These factors and their interactions need to be considered to understand urban ecosystems over long time frames and broad spatial scales.

The Division of Environmental Biology (DEB) Core Tracksupports research and training on evolutionary and ecological processes acting at the level of populations, species, communities, and ecosystems. DEB encourages research that elucidates fundamental principles that identify and explain the unity and diversity of life and its interactions with the environment over space and time. Research may incorporate field, laboratory, or collection-based approaches; observational or manipulative studies; synthesis activities; phylogenetic discovery projects; or theoretical approaches involving analytical, statistical, or computational modeling. Proposals should be submitted to the core clusters (Ecosystem Sciences, Evolutionary Processes, Population and Community Ecology, and Systematics and Biodiversity Sciences). DEB also encourages interdisciplinary proposals that cross conceptual boundaries and integrate over levels of biological organization or across multiple spatial and temporal scales.Research addressing ecology and ecosystem science in the marine biome should be directed to the Biological Oceanography Program in the Division of Ocean Sciences; research addressing evolution and systematics in the marine biome should be directed to the Evolutionary Processes or Systematics and Biodiversity Science programs in DEB. All DEB programs also encourage proposals that leverage NSF-supported data networks, databases, centers, and other forms of scientific infrastructure, including but not limited to the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), Environmental Data Initiative (EDI), and Integrated Digitized Biocollections (iDigBio).

To address ecological questions that cannot be resolved with short-term observations or experiments, NSF established the Long-Term Ecological Research Program (LTER) in 1980. Two components differentiate LTER research from projects supported by other NSF programs: 1) the research is located at specific sites chosen to represent major ecosystem types or natural biomes, and 2) it emphasizes the study of ecological phenomena over long periods of time based on data collected in five core areas. Long-term studies are critical to achieve an integrated understanding of how components of ecosystems interact as well as to test ecological theory. Ongoing research at LTER sites is expected to contribute to the development and testing of fundamental ecological theories and significantly advance understanding of the long-term dynamics of populations, communities and ecosystems. It often integrates multiple disciplines and, through cross-site interactions may examine patterns or processes over broad spatial scales. Recognizing that the value of long-term data extends beyond use at any individual site, NSF requires that data collected by all LTER sites be made publicly accessible.

Biology has transformed science over the last century through discoveries that cross subdisciplines from the molecular to the organismal to the ecosystem level. While making great progress, biology has also slowly fragmented into subdisciplines, creating a dynamic tension between unifying principles and increasingly reductionist pursuits. The aim of this solicitation is to bring researchers together around the common goal of understanding how the processes that sustain life and enable biological innovation operate and interact within and across different scales of organization, from molecules to cells, tissues to organisms, species, ecosystems, biomes and the entire Earth. The Biology Integration Institutes (BII) program supports collaborative teams of researchers investigating questions that span multiple disciplines within and beyond biology.

The BioWatch Program is a cornerstone of the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) comprehensive strategy for countering biological terrorism. The BioWatch Program is an early warning system that is designed to detect the intentional release of select aerosolized biological agents. The BioWatch Program's mission is to provide and maintain a continuous bio-terrorism air monitoring system in metropolitan areas and coordinate with state and local public health communities to prepare for and respond to a bioterrorist event. This mission is accomplished by serving as an early warning system which enhances the security of jurisdictions by providing the needed time to execute their comprehensive concept of operations plans to counter biological terrorism. The Biowatch Program is a critical part of an ongoing national effort to build and sustain preparedness which helps the United States to maintain momentum through targeted jurisdictional planning that highlights preventative actions necessary to allow for a proper and timely response and begin the process to recovery from a biological agent release.

This Developmental Research Funding Opportunity intends to support gene function studies in collaboration with the Undiagnosed Diseases Network (UDN) building upon the NIH Intramural Research Programs Undiagnosed Diseases Program (NIH-UDP). Responsive applications will propose to investigate the underlying genetics, biochemistry and/or pathophysiology of newly diagnosed diseases in association with the respective gene variant(s) identified through the UDN. In recent years, gene function studies combined with genetic and genomic analyses and metabolic studies have greatly improved diagnoses of these very rare diseases and advanced scientific knowledge of the underlying pathogenesis. This initiative is funded through the NIH Common Fund, which supports cross-cutting programs that are expected to have exceptionally high impact.

The FaceBase Consortium is developing a variety of comprehensive datasets on midfacial development that are available to the wider scientific community at www.facebase.org. This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) will support meritorious research projects that conduct secondary data analyses of these FaceBase datasets relevant to craniofacial development, human craniofacial conditions or traits, and animal models of those craniofacial conditions. Informatics projects that integrate data from multiple FaceBase datasets are especially encouraged.

It has been suggested that generic iron complex formulations could have higher levels of labile iron, leading to the formation of a greater amount of non-transferrin bound iron (NTBI) in vivo than the reference listed drug (RLD) that would potentiate oxidative stress and inflammation, then resulting in direct cellular damage. The objectives of this study are to evaluate various in-vitro methods of determining labile iron in the parenteral iron complex formulations and develop a bio-relevant in-vitro method to predict the amount of NTBI in vivo. Such a predictive in-vitro method will allow for linkage of FDA's equivalence standards to in vivo performance.

This NASA Research Announcement (NRA) solicits proposals for supporting basic and applied research and technology across a broad range of Earth and space science program elements relevant to one or more of the following NASA Research Programs: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Planetary Science, and Astrophysics. This ROSES NRA covers all aspects of basic and applied supporting research and technology in space and Earth sciences, including, but not limited to: theory, modeling, and analysis of SMD science data; aircraft, stratospheric balloon, suborbital rocket, and commercial reusable rocket investigations; development of experiment techniques suitable for future SMD space missions; development of concepts for future SMD space missions; development of advanced technologies relevant to SMD missions; development of techniques for and the laboratory analysis of both extraterrestrial samples returned by spacecraft, as well as terrestrial samples that support or otherwise help verify observations from SMD Earth system science missions; determination of atomic and composition parameters needed to analyze space data, as well as returned samples from the Earth or space; Earth surface observations and field campaigns that support SMD science missions; development of integrated Earth system mo dels; development of systems for applying Earth science research data to societal needs; and development of applied information systems applicable to SMD objectives and data.

Scan high definition digital images of BLM and CESU partner herbarium specimens, collected and preserved over the last several decades, and then make available to anyone via the Rocky Mountain Herbarium online database.

The Thermal Transport Processes program supports engineering research aimed at gaining a basic understanding of the thermal transport phenomena at nano/micro and macro scales in (1) cooling and heating of equipment and devices, (2) energy conversion, power generation and thermal energy storage and conservation, (3) the synthesis and processing of materials including advanced manufacturing, (4) the propulsion of air and land-based vehicles, and (5) thermal phenomena in biological systems.

The Environmental Health and Safety of Nanotechnology (Nano EHS) program provides support to examine and mitigate the environmental effects of nanotechnologies. Fundamental research is sought to understand, evaluate, and lessen the impact of nanotechnology on the environment and biological systems. The program emphasizes engineering principles underlying the environmental health and safety impacts of nanotechnology. Innovative methods related to clean nanomaterials production processes, waste reduction, recycling, and industrial ecology of nanotechnology are also of interest.

The Melanoma Research Foundation is accepting applications from emerging and established scientific investigators for research projects that explore new avenues in melanoma biology, prevention and treatments, with the goal of finding a cure. The foundation makes grants in four areas: Career Development Awards, Established Investigator Awards, Career Investigator CURE OM Awards, and Established Investigator CURE OM Awards. Career Development Awards provide funding of up to $50,000 a year for two years to junior investigators who are beginning a research career emphasizing melanoma-related projects and have not yet secured strong federal funding for their research. Established Investigator Awards provide funding of up to $100,000 a year for two years to established melanoma researchers or senior researchers working in closely related fields who wish to move into melanoma research. Career Development CURE OM Awards provide funding of up to $50,000 a year for two years to junior investigators in the ocular/uveal melanoma field. Established Investigator CURE OM Awards provides funding of up to $100,000 a year for two years to established ocular/uveal melanoma researchers, or senior researchers.

he NIDCR-funded FaceBase Consortium (www.facebase.org) was established in 2009 to advance craniofacial research by creating comprehensive datasets on craniofacial development and dysmorphologies and disseminating them to the wider craniofacial research community. Operationally, the Consortium links individual spoke projects, each creating and contributing comprehensive datasets, analytic tools, and other resources to a central data management and integration hub which, in turn, disseminates them publicly. This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) solicits grant applications for a new round of spoke projects that will comprise the Consortiums second iteration. New projects should be consistent with FaceBases overall goals of experimental data collection and annotation, data coordination, and integration. New projects should also be complementary to, rather than duplicative of, the types of data, analytic tools, and resources already available through FaceBase. The Consortium will continue to focus on normal craniofacial development and dysmorphology but this FOA is open to applications investigating parts of the skull beyond the midface and palate. High programmatic priority will be given to studies of facial, palatal, and cranial vault development and dysmorphology.

Objective To help trainees initiate careers in cardiovascular and stroke research while obtaining significant research results under the supervision of a sponsor or mentor; supports individuals before they're ready for some stage of independent research. Science Focus Research broadly related to cardiovascular function and disease and stroke, or to related clinical, basic science, bioengineering or biotechnology, and public health problems, including multidisciplinary efforts.

The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Division of Epidemiology, Statistics, and Prevention Research intends to solicit proposals to award an Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract to an organization to conduct various studies focusing on a spectrum of health effects in men, women, and children that rely on quantification of analytes in biological specimens such as blood, urine, adipose tissue, follicular fluids, and seminal fluids.  The Division needs a variety of banked specimens analyzed for concentrations of various hormone levels, dietary biomarkers, and indicators of metabolic function among other analytes.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) encourages exploratory and developmental grant applications to lay the foundation for innovative and collaborative basic research on the role of epigenetics in social, behavioral, environmental and biological relationships, throughout the life-span and across generations. Research plans that are responsive to this FOA will use existing bio-psycho-social and environmental data from human cohorts or animal studies that have biospecimens available for epigenetic profiling. The one year exploratory/developmental awards are expected to generate preliminary data for comprehensive basic research applications to study interactions between epigenetics and social/behavioral/biological/environmental factors in both normal function and pathophysiology throughout life and across generations. The results may ultimately inform research to develop clinical decision/diagnostic tools and prevention/treatment strategies.   

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) seeks to stimulate innovative research that will increase our understanding of the role that uncultivable bacterial species play in the microbial ecology of the human oral microbiota during states of health and disease. The effective integration of current technologies and the development of new tools and innovative methods are especially encouraged.Due to the wide spectrum of possible experimental approaches and the multidisciplinary tools that will be required to study this unique microbial population, this FOA is designed specifically to encourage team science that will leverage innovation, broad expertise and multiple technological platforms to answer hypothesis-driven questions regarding these bacteria.Consistent with this approach, the use of a multiple Program Directors/Principal Investigators (PDs/PIs) model is encouraged that will recruit complementary and collaborative research teams to conduct these studies.

This FOA will provide support for assays (and associated data analysis) of repository-held samples for studies focused on an NIDDK-relevant disease. The review of applications to this FOA will consider both access to repository-held samples and funding for assays using the samples. These studies are expected to generate scientific discoveries on disease mechanisms, disease pathogenic processes, disease progression, or clinical responses. Projects that make good use of the associated data from the clinical trials and studies, the original intent of the clinical study and/or trial are highly encouraged. Exploratory studies and discovery research are encouraged especially when samples are not severely limited, the work is justified, and the goal is consistent with the original intent of the clinical research.