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 Infrastructure Innovation for Biological Research Program (Innovation) aims to support the advancement of contemporary biology across any research area endorsed by the Directorate for Biological Sciences at NSF. The focus of the grant is on developing research infrastructure that benefits a wide range of researchers within three specific programmatic areas: Bioinformatics, Instrumentation, and Research Methods. The supported infrastructure aims to enhance biological research by improving the scientific community's capacity to manipulate, control, analyze, or measure crucial aspects of biological systems. This, in turn, is essential for probing significant fundamental research questions. The program encourages proposals that either introduce new infrastructure, significantly overhaul existing ones, or repurpose current infrastructure in innovative ways. Successful projects should address pertinent biological science questions and exhibit potential utility for a broad researcher community beyond the initiating team.