NEW YORK, Oct. 28 (GenomeWeb News) - The National Science Foundation has set aside $38 million for plant genome research grants in fiscal years 2004 and 2005, and is seeking proposals for novel research topics as well as new informatics technologies to support collaborative studies.
In a program announcement issued late last week, NSF said it is "especially looking for proposals that are conceptually new and different from many of the already well-supported on-going projects, as well as for proposals from investigators and institutions that have not participated in this program in the past."
NSF is also encouraging "new informatics tools to disseminate, access, and analyze massive or dispersed datasets" as well as "research resources and tools that would enable a broad community of investigators to participate in plant genome research."
The agency plans to fund two kinds of activities in FY2004 and FY2005: individual and small group awards in plant genome research (ISGA-PGR); and virtual center awards in plant genome research (VCA-PGR) to support large-scale collaborative projects.
ISGA-PGR awards will be supported at around $300,000 to $500,000 per year for up to five years, and VCA-PGR awards will be supported at award levels up to $2 million per year for up to five years.
The deadline for proposals for FY 2004 awards is Jan. 23, 2004.