The Division of Integrative Organismal Systems (IOS) held a Virtual Office Hour on January 19, 2023 providing information on current solicitations and Dear Colleague Letters of potential interest to the community. This overview was followed by our topic of the month, the Enabling Discovery through GEnomics (EDGE; 21-546) funding opportunity.   

General information about the EDGE solicitation: 

• The deadline for proposal submission is February 16, 2023. 
• The solicitation has two tracks with different research foci:  
  • Functional Genomic Tools [FTG] Track is for proposals that will develop genomic tools for research communities where these tools currently do not exist. 
  • Complex Multigenic Traits [CMT] Track is for hypothesis-driven research proposals that will advance the understanding of the relationship between genomes and phenotypes within context. 
• Budgets may not exceed $2 million in combined direct costs summed over all components of the project. 
• The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) also participates in the program. 
  • All projects should be written in response to the EDGE solicitation.  
  • NSF will manage the review of proposals in consultation with NHGRI. Upon conclusion of the review process, meritorious proposals may be recommended for funding by either NSF or NIH, at the option of the agencies, not the proposing organizations. 

If you have additional questions about EDGE program or wish to discuss suitability of your proposed project for either of the two tracks, please contact the EDGE working group at BIOEDGE@NSF.GOV.  

The slides are available here.

Please join us on February 16, 2023 for our next IOS Virtual Office Hour when we will be discussing funding options for work focused on infection biology in the IOS, in the Biology Directorate, and at NSF.  You can register for February’s virtual office hour HERE.