NSF invests in BioFoundries to drive advances across science and engineering

The U.S. National Science Foundation has made five awards totaling $75 million to support the creation of five biofoundries that will spur innovation, provide tools and technologies to researchers nationwide, and help advance biology, biotechnology, and the broader science, technology, engineering and mathematics enterprise.

NSF BioFoundries are integrated facilities that enable researchers to rapidly design, create, test and streamline the development of tools and products to accelerate research to advance the bioeconomy.

These facilities combine the latest advances in biological sciences, geosciences, biomaterials, chemical biology and bioengineering with tool development, automation, high throughput measurement, integrated data acquisition and analysis, and artificial intelligence and machine learning. By serving as user-facing facilities with complementary internal research programs, NSF BioFoundries will provide broad access to cutting-edge technology, workflows, processes and knowledge bases, and the design and scale-up capabilities necessary to ensure all ideas reach their potential.

Each NSF BioFoundry will focus on a different area of biology or biotechnology, but all will advance both in-house and user-initiated projects, train the next generation of the scientific workforce, engage with consumers and users of the products developed, and continually enhance workflows and processes to accelerate the translation of ideas.

"Across all fields of science and engineering, addressing grand challenges requires access to advanced technologies, sophisticated instrumentation and workflows, but not every researcher at every institution can access those critical capabilities," said NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan. "The new NSF BioFoundries will help democratize access to critical research infrastructure, helping to spur opportunities everywhere so innovation can happen anywhere. Not only will these NSF BioFoundries advance biology, they also will lead to developments in artificial intelligence, data storage, health, climate resilience and more."

The facilities will drastically expand and democratize biotechnology capabilities in the United States. To date, such technologies have been limited to specific academic labs, certain parts of industry and two government facilities: the U.S. Department of Energy's Agile BioFoundry and the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Living Measurement Systems Foundry. By acting as user facilities without charging user fees, NSF BioFoundries will enable research and translation at various institutions - from research-intensive universities to minority-serving institutions, community colleges and others.

Education, training and outreach efforts will further the facilities' reach, engaging students from kindergarten through graduate school, supporting industry and translational partnerships, and creating materials to educate the public on engineering biology, synthetic biology and biotechnology. Several NSF BioFoundries will work with minority-serving institutions, including historically Black colleges and universities, to bring in groups traditionally underrepresented in the STEM workforce. Efforts will focus on training a workforce skilled in biology, computer science, AI and robotics.

The five awards are:

• NSF Artificial Intelligence-driven RNA BioFoundry (NSF AIRFoundry) - Led by the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Puerto Rico, this biofoundry is focused on developing RNA molecules and delivery vehicles. Engaging other universities, industry and hospitals, NSF AIRFoundry will leverage AI to uncover and apply the fundamental design principles of RNA across various applications, from health to agriculture. Educational and outreach efforts include Women in Science Day, customized coursework, engagement of high school students, and a strategy to diversify the STEM workforce.
• NSF BioFoundry: Glycoscience Resources, Education, and Training (NSF BioF:GREAT) - Led by the University of Georgia, this biofoundry will focus on the study and development of technologies using proteins with sugar chains and the enzymes that make them. The tools NSF BioF:GREAT creates will drive improvements in biotherapeutics, diagnostics, biomaterials and biofuels with priorities being driven by the needs of users. Broader impacts include teaching modules for existing chemistry/biology courses, online educational videos, dedicated stand-alone glycoscience courses at the undergraduate/graduate level and hands-on summer courses.
• NSF iBioFoundry at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (NSF iBioFoundry) - This biofoundry will develop a remotely accessible, programmable, user-driven cloud biofoundry that integrates synthetic biology, AI and machine learning, and laboratory automation. The facility's scientific focus will be on protein and cellular engineering. Partnerships with BioMADE and industry will help advance broader impacts that will also include a digital biofoundry that serves as an education, training and outreach vehicle.
• NSF BioFoundry for Extreme & Exceptional Fungi, Archaea and Bacteria (NSF Ex-FAB BioFoundry) - Led by a consortium of UC-Santa Barbara, UC-Riverside and CalPoly-Pomona, this biofoundry will focus on organisms that can live and thrive in extreme environments, with a particular focus on microorganisms that contribute to biotechnology development. NSF Ex-FAB BioFoundry's goal is to create a library of microbes that reveals new rules of life and to build infrastructure to engineer these microbes to advance agriculture, sustainability and the broader bioeconomy. Among other educational efforts, the institutions will collaborate to develop a new educational program to train and attract researchers and users from the 23 campuses of California State University.
• NSF Center for Robust, Equitable and Accessible Technology and Education for Next Generation BioFoundries (NSF CREATE for Next Generation BioFoundries) - Led by the University of Delaware, this project aims to develop the necessary automation and design tools for high throughput design and construction of metabolic pathways, protein materials, biosensors and bacteriophage products and will democratize access to the tools of modern biotechnology. The project team will work to increase access to the tools and technologies of biofoundries among underserved academic institutions, such as primarily undergraduate institutions, HBCUs and other minority-serving institutions and women's colleges in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.