The U.S. National Science Foundation is an independent federal agency that supports science and engineering in all 50 states and U.S. territories. NSF was established in 1950 by Congress to promote the progress of science, advance the national health, prosperity and welfare, and secure the national defense.
The Cellular and Biochemical Engineering (CBE) program is designed to support fundamental engineering research aiming at understanding cellular and biomolecular processes. It focuses on enabling technology development for advanced biomanufacturing of therapeutic cells, biochemicals, and biopharmaceuticals, along with other biotechnology industries. The program values highly innovative and potentially transformative research that can lead to novel bioprocessing and biomanufacturing approaches, emphasizing the quantitative treatment of biological processes. Key interest areas include metabolic engineering, synthetic biology for biomanufacturing, design of synthetic metabolic components and cells, microbiome structure and design, protein and enzyme engineering, and the design of integrated chemoenzymatic systems. It encourages interdisciplinary integration and educational activity inclusion, with a recommendation for proposals to discuss the potential impact on biomanufacturing processes.