Frontiers in Integrative Biological Research (FIBR)

The Frontiers in Integrative Biological Research (FIBR) Program supports integrative research that addresses major questions in the biological sciences. FIBR encourages investigators to identify major under-studied or unanswered questions in biology and to use innovative approaches to address them by integrating the scientific concepts and research tools from across disciplines including biology, math and the physical sciences, engineering, social sciences and the information sciences. Proposers are encouraged to focus on the biological significance of the question, to describe the integrative approaches, and to develop a research plan that is not limited by conceptual, disciplinary, or organizational boundaries. Particularly encouraged are the inclusion of young scientists trained in an interdisciplinary environment or in non-biological disciplines, and partnerships with underrepresented minority serving and primarily undergraduate institutions and community colleges.

The Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO) of the National Science Foundation (NSF) announces the second competition for the Frontiers in Integrative Biological Research (FIBR) program.  During the last decade, major breakthroughs in many areas including genomics, information technology, high throughput instrumentation, imaging and wireless technologies, sensors, and Geographic Information System (GIS) now enable novel and integrative approaches to major challenges in biology.  Thus, 21^st Century Biology encompasses research that is multidimensional, multidisciplinary, integrative, education-oriented and global, encompassing conceptual and experimental approaches much different from those of the previous century.    While existing BIO programs support these new directions in biological research, FIBR is designed to enable larger and more integrative or interdisciplinary projects than might be possible in any single program. Through FIBR BIO intends to support groups of researchers to capitalize on synergistic interactions and to employ diverse tools to achieve an integrative understanding of a clearly defined, major biological question. Proposals that fit within the scope of another existing program at NSF should be directed to that program (see Section IX below for additional information).

NSF BIO does not provide support for bioscience research with disease related goals, including work on the etiology, diagnosis and treatment of physical and mental disease, abnormality, or malfunction in human beings or animals. Animal models of such conditions and the development and testing of drugs and other procedures for their treatment also are not eligible for support. The submission of duplicate or substantially similar proposals concurrently for review by more than one program without prior NSF approval may result in the return of the redundant proposals.  Research proposals to the Biological Sciences Directorate cannot be duplicates of proposals to any other Federal agency for simultaneous consideration. The only exceptions to this rule applicable to the FIBR program are proposals from PIs who are beginning investigators (individuals who have not been a principal investigator (PI) or co-principal investigator (co-PI) on a Federally funded award with the exception of doctoral dissertation, postdoctoral fellowship or research planning grants). For proposers who qualify under this exception, the box for "Beginning Investigator" must be checked on the proposal Cover Sheet.

The FIBR program supports integrative research focused on a major question(s) in biology addressed through the creative application of a broad range of scientific concepts, strategies and research tools from both within and outside the biological sciences.  FIBR projects are integrative at several conceptual levels.  This includes the nature of the research paradigm (which may encompass multiple levels of organization or complexity, time and space, or range of organisms or processes), the use of combined experimental and theoretical analyses, and the application of a broad range of interdisciplinary approaches (e.g. math, physics, chemistry, social and behavioral sciences, computation and information sciences, etc.) in a single, coherent effort.

FIBR particularly encourages inclusion of young scientists trained in an interdisciplinary environment or in non-biological disciplines as co-PIs or postdoctoral research associates. The FIBR program also encourages partnerships with community colleges, baccalaureate, comprehensive, and underrepresented minority-serving institutions.

When preparing a FIBR proposal, proposers are encouraged to focus on the biological significance of the question, to describe the best integrative approaches, and to develop a plan that is not constrained by any perceived or real barriers and limitations, be they conceptual, disciplinary, organizational or budgetary.   It is essential that there be an integrative conceptual model to link each element of the research plan to overall goals, and to serve as a framework for analysis of hypotheses being tested.

It is recognized that proposals that cross significant disciplinary, intellectual, or other boundaries may not fit readily within existing programs and an important goal of the FIBR program is to provide a home for such proposals. Proposals that fit within the scope of an existing program at NSF or elsewhere should be submitted directly to those programs. Examples of other programs at NSF that support large scale collaborative research can be found under Section IX below, Other Progams of Interest.  Consult the NSF Guide to Programs for a complete description of NSF programs (https://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?cg).

The FIBR program supports the development of novel strategies, concepts and tools when these are essential elements within a broader plan to address a major and well-defined question in biology. However, projects whose primary or central focus is on new tools and strategies development are not appropriate for the FIBR program.  

Large-scale projects employing broadly integrative approaches may involve international teams of investigators and NSF encourages international collaborations.  FIBR program funds may be requested to support US investigators and students to work in international laboratories or foreign investigators and students to work in US laboratories.  However, foreign counterparts should secure support for their efforts from their own national programs.  

In FY2004, FIBR will support the following activities:

1. Full Proposals that address a major conceptual challenge in biology. A two stage review process is used for FIBR proposals.  First, all proposers must submit a preliminary proposal that outlines the project as described below. Based upon review of preliminary proposals by a panel of outside experts, selected proposers will be encouraged to proceed to the second stage of review with submission of a full proposals. Those not encouraged remain eligible to submit full proposals although this is not recommended. Full proposals submitted without a corresponding preliminary proposal in the current review cycle will not be accepted.

2. Planning Grants that provide an opportunity for interested investigators to develop a well thought-out project plan. The outcome of a planning grant is expected to be an innovative, integrative research project that is different from ongoing research in the individual participants' laboratories and that leads directly to a preliminary proposal in the next cycle. Preliminary proposals are not required for planning grant proposals. 

• Organization Limit: Proposals are invited from U.S. academic institutions, U.S. non-profit research organizations including museums, research laboratories, professional societies and similar organizations in the U.S. that are directly associated with educational or research activities, and consortia of such organizations with appropriate research and educational facilities.  When a consortium of eligible organizations submits a proposal, it must be submitted as a single proposal with one organization serving as the lead and all other organizations as subawardees.   
• PI Eligibility Limit: PIs, Co-PIs or Senior Personnel may be involved with only one planning grant and one full proposal in the same year.  The same team of investigators may not submit both planning grant proposals and preliminary proposals in the same review cycle.

It is anticipated that approximately $15 million will be available for new Planning Grants and Full Proposals in FY2004, contingent upon the quality of proposals received and pending the availability of funds. 

The award size for Planning Grants will be up to $50,000 for one year. The award size for Research Grants will be up to a total of approximately $5 million for up to five years.

Funding decisions for Planning Grant proposals are anticipated by late December 2003, with awards expected to start in February 2004.  Funding decisions for full research proposals are anticipated by the end of July 2004, with awards expected to start in September 2004. 

Preliminary Proposals submitted in response to this program announcement/solicitation should be prepared and submitted in accordance with the general guidelines contained in the NSF Grant Proposal Guide (GPG). The complete text of the GPG is available electronically on the NSF Website at: https://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?gpg. Paper copies of the GPG may be obtained from the NSF Publications Clearinghouse, telephone (301) 947-2722 or by e-mail from pubs@nsf.gov.

The following exceptions and additions apply to proposals submitted to this Program:

Submission of Preliminary Proposals is required for Full Proposals only.  Preliminary proposals are not required for Planning Grants. Proposals that are not compliant with the guidelines may not be reviewed.  It is the submitting organizations responsibility to ensure that the proposal is compliant with all applicable guidelines. 

Preliminary proposals must contain the items listed below and strictly adhere to the specified page limitations.  No additional information may be provided as an appendix or by links to web pages. Figures and tables must be included within the applicable page limit. All elements of the proposal, including legends and tables, must meet the formating requirements for font size, characters per inch, margins, etc. as specified in the Grant Proposal Guide.   

Based on evaluation by a panel of outside experts, the FIBR Working Group expects to encourage approximately 20 to 25 Principal Investigators (PIs) to submit full proposals.  

By December 17, 2003 the program will e-mail PIs whose preliminary proposals are encouraged for full proposal submission. 

Preliminary proposals should provide a brief overview of the project and should include sufficient information to allow assessment of the main ideas and approaches.  Preliminary proposals must include the following items:  

• FastLane Cover Sheet: Select the program solicitation number, NSF 03-581, from the pull down list.  The FIBR program will automatically be selected. An informative title for the proposed FIBR project, that begins with "FIBR Preliminary Proposal:", must be provided.  Check the box indicated for preliminary proposal.  Entries on the FastLane Cover Sheet are limited to the principal investigator and a maximum of four co-principal investigators.  Additional co-principal investigators should be listed on the Project Summary page and entered into FastLane as Senior Investigators (this latter provision allows their biographical sketches to be included in the FastLane proposal). For more FastLane instructions see section D below.                                        
• Project Summary (1-page limit). Provide a brief description of the research program.  This summary should be intelligible to a general audience.   At the top of this page include the title of the project, the name of the PI and the lead institution and/or organization, list of Co-PIs and other Senior Personnel with their institutions and/or organizations. Provide a clear and concise statement of the major questions(s) in biology that will be addressed in the proposed research and summarize the approaches that will be used to address this question.     
• Project Description. The project description will include: 
  1. Describe the vision and goals for the project including an explicit statement of the major question(s) in biology to be addressed, the proposed creative approaches to attain the goals, expected outcomes, and how the proposed project will advance the frontiers of biology (Maximum 5 pages). 
  2. Education and Training Plan (maximum 2 pages). Describe how the proposed research will be integrated with educational activities and how these activities promote diversity as an integral component. Indicate how students trained in this research will be better able to handle emerging research problems in biological areas.         
• References Cited.  Indicate with an asterisk any cited publications that resulted from prior research funded by NSF for the PI, or Co-PI.                                                                   
• List of key personnel involved (maximum 3 pages), with a description of what each person uniquely brings to the project and how individual efforts are integrated to produce positive synergy                                                            
• Biographical sketches (2 pages each).   Biographical sketches must be listed for the PI, Co-PIs and other Senior Personnel listed on the Project Summary page.                                                           
• Current and Pending Support  for the PI, Co-PIs, and  Senior Personnel must be included.                                                          
• No budget is required; however please enter $2 in the Requested Amount box on the FastLane Cover Sheet (this entry allows correct FastLane processing).                             
• Special Information and Supplementary Documentation is limited to the following letters of commitment documenting collaborative arrangements of significance but must not include general letters of endorsement.  

The following exceptions and additions apply to proposals submitted to this Program:

Full proposals will be accepted only from PIs who have submitted preliminary proposals in the current review cycle. Submission of full proposals by PIs whose preliminary proposals received a review recommendation of 'not encouraged' is strongly discouraged.

• FastLane Cover Sheet: Select the program solicitation number, NSF 03-581, from the pull down list. The FIBR program will automatically be selected.  An informative title for the proposed FIBR project, that begins with "FIBR:", must be provided. Entries on the FastLane Cover Sheet are limited to the principal investigator and a maximum of 4 co-principal investigators.  Additional co-principal investigators should be listed on the Project Summary page and entered into FastLane as Senior Investigators (this latter provision allows their biographical sketches to be included in the FastLane proposal.  For more FastLane instructions see section D below.                                                   
• Project Summary (1-page limit). Provide a brief description of the research program.  This summary should be intelligible to a general audience.   At the top of this page include the title of the project, the name of the PI and the lead institution and/or organization, list of Co-PIs and other Senior Personnel with their institutions and/or organizations. Provide a clear and concise statement of the major questions(s) in biology that will be addressed in the proposed research and summarize the approaches that will be used to address this question.                                                                                                                                     
• Project Description (maximum 15 pages).  

• References Cited.   Indicate with an asterisk any cited publications that resulted from prior research funded by NSF for the PI, or Co-PI.                                                                        
• Biographical sketches for key personnel (PI, Co-PIs, and each of the senior personnel listed on the Project Summary page). Use the format described in GPG.                                                  
• Budget. Follow instructions in GPG. Develop a realistic project budget that is consistent with the proposed activities. Provide detailed budget justification.                                                                    
• Facilities, Equipment: Provide a description of available facilities and priorities for its use. For FIBR projects requiring additional equipment, justify the need for these resources in the context of the innovative work proposed.                                                                    
• In the Special Information and Supplementary Documentation section, include the following:  

1. List of key personnel involved (maximum 3 pages), with description of what each person uniquely brings to the project and how they are integrated to produce positive synergies;                                   
2. Provide a detailed management plan (maximum 3 pages) including means of communication and data tracking/management within the group, management of intellectual property resulting from the project, and timeline of activities;                                            
3. Means of sharing the outcome of the research with the rest of the scientific community, eg. publications, web sites, data bases, genome, EST, cDNA or other sequences, microarray data, etc. (maximum 2 pages).  The description should be specific and describe what, how, and when the community would have access to the outcome of the project.  This is particularly important for the projects that will produce tangible research tools and resources;                                           
4. A list, in a single alphabetized table, with the full names of all people with conflicts of interest for all senior personnel (PI and Co-PI's) and any named personnel whose salary is requested in the project budget.  Conflicts to be identified are (1) PhD thesis advisors or advisees, (2) collaborators or co-authors, including postdocs, for the past 48 months, and (3) any other individuals or institutions with which the investigator has financial ties (please specify type). 

Planning Grant Proposal: 

Planning Grant proposals submitted in response to this program announcement/solicitation should be prepared and submitted in accordance with the general guidelines contained in the NSF Grant Proposal Guide (GPG). The complete text of the GPG is available electronically on the NSF Website at: https://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?gpg. Paper copies of the GPG may be obtained from the NSF Publications Clearinghouse, telephone (301) 947-2722 or by e-mail from pubs@nsf.gov.

The following exceptions and additions apply to proposals submitted to this Program:

Proposals for planning grants to support activities that will lead to the submission of a competitive FIBR preproposal may be submitted.  Examples of planning activities include, but are not limited to, focused workshops or virtual meetings, to generate proof of concept, and/or to develop management and research interactions. NSF plans to solicit FIBR planning grants only in FY2004.  The same team of investigators may not submit both planning grant proposals and preliminary proposals in the same year.  An individual researcher may be involved with only one planning grant and one FIBR research grant in the same year.  

The leader of the group should submit the planning grant proposal through her/his institution.  Planning grant proposals should contain the following items:

• FastLane Cover Sheet: Select the program solicitation number, NSF 03-581, from the pull down list. The FIBR program will automatically be selected.  An informative title for the proposed FIBR project, that begins with "FIBR: Planning", must be provided.  Entries on the FastLane Cover Sheet are limited to the principal investigator and a maximum of 4 co-principal investigators.  Additional co-principal investigators should be listed on the Project Summary page and entered into FastLane as Senior Investigators (this latter provision allows their biographical sketches to be included in the FastLane proposal.  For more FastLane instructions see section D.                                                                           
• Project Summary (1-page limit). Provide a brief description of the planning activities.  At the top of this page include the title of the project, the name of the PI and the lead institution, list of Co-PIs and other Senior Investigators with their institutions. This summary should be intelligible to a general audience. Summarize the intellectual context for the anticipated FIBR proposal including the major question(s) in biology that would be addressed and list the planning activities expected to lead to a competitive proposal.                                                           
• Project description (maximum 5 pages).  

1. Describe prior research by the PI that was funded by NSF and is directly relevant to the proposed project.                            
2. Project subject area:  Describe the intellectual context for the planned FIBR proposal including the major question(s) in biology to be addressed, plans for innovative and/or integrative approaches, and anticipated   broader impacts including training and educational opportunities.                            
3. Planned activities:  Describe the activities to be conducted under the proposed planning grant and indicate how these activities would lead to a competitive FIBR preproposal submission.  Include a timeline for activities that culminates in preproposal preparation and submission for the FIBR program deadline (first week of November each year).  

• References Cited.  Indicate with an asterisk any cited publications that resulted from prior research funded by NSF for the PI, or Co-PI.                                                                            
• Biographical Sketches. Brief biographical information is required for the PI, Co-PIs, and Senior Personnel listed on the Project Summary page.  Use GPG format.                                                                         
• Proposal Budget that is consistent with the proposed activities.  Provide a clearly described budget justification.  Award size is limited to a maximum of $50,000 for one year.                                                                         
• Current and Pending Support  for the PI, Co-PIs, and Senior Personnel

Examples of other programs at NSF that support large scale, collaborative research include the following:

• Assembling the Tree of Life: https://www.nsf.gov/pubsys/ods/getpub.cfm?ods_key=nsf03536 
• Biocomplexity in the Environment (BE): https://www.nsf.gov/pubsys/ods/getpub.cfm?ods_key=nsf02167          
• Plant Genome Research Program: https://www.nsf.gov/pubsys/ods/getpub.cfm?ods_key=nsf02187 
• 2010 Project: https://www.nsf.gov/pubsys/ods/getpub.cfm?ods_key=nsf02175 
• Nanoscale Science and Engineering (NSE): https://www.nsf.gov/pubsys/ods/getpub.cfm?ods_key=nsf02148         
• Collaborative Research in Chemistry (CRC): https://www.nsf.gov/pubsys/ods/getpub.cfm?ods_key=nsf02157          
• Physics Frontiers Centers (PFC): https://www.nsf.gov/mps/divisions/phy/about/c_programs.htm#pfc          
• Focused Research Groups (in Math) FRG: https://www.nsf.gov/mps/divisions/dms/about/c_programs.htm#frg    
• Information Technology Research  (ITR): https://www.nsf.gov/pubsys/ods/getpub.cfm?ods_key=nsf02168    
• Science and Technology Centers (STC): https://www.nsf.gov/od/oia/programs/stc/    
• Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Program (IGERT): https://www.nsf.gov/home/crssprgm/igert/start.htm

Consult the NSF Guide to Programs (https://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?gp) for information about these and other activities.