Microsoft Research (MSR) has launched a new funding initiative in the promising but controversial field of computational challenges in synthetic biology.
Unlike the BioIT Alliance, through which Microsoft encourages links with industrial partners to create solutions in the life sciences, the principal aim of MSR is to forge partnerships with academic researchers. The new request for proposals (RFP) allocates $500,000 for two principle areas of synthetic biology research:
- The re-engineering of natural biological pathways to produce interoperable, composable, standard biological parts. Examples include the role of computers in the “specification, simulation, construction and dissemination of biological components or systems of interacting components.”
- Tools and information repositories relating to the use of DNA in the fabrication of nanostructures and nanodevices.
According to bioinformatics program manager Simon Mercer, MSR is trying to build relationships with the academic community “in a range of areas of strategic interest. These range from pen-centric computing to robotics and from computing in emerging economies to addressing the shortage of undergraduates enrolling in computer science.”
Mercer says that the challenges faced by scientists today will be faced by business tomorrow and eventually by everyone. “Encouraging and participating in basic research helps us to better understand these problems and their potential solutions,” says Redmond, Wash.-based Mercer. “We believe we already have products and technologies that can help scientists work more efficiently, or which may form the basis for new applications that could help advance the state of the art in research.”
Synthetic biology is a particularly interesting field, Mercer asserts, because it has “the potential to provide insights into living systems, transform biotechnology and perhaps generate entirely new industries. We might be able to help this happen.”
Microsoft will announce the synthetic biology award winners next March, encouraging proposals that utilize or integrate other funding sources and resources such as the MIT BioBricks repository. Software and data are to be made freely available to the scientific community.
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