Semiconductor Synthetic Biology for Information Processing and Storage Technologies | 17 557

Opportunity Information: Apply for 17 557

The Semiconductor Synthetic Biology for Information Processing and Storage Technologies (SemiSynBio) opportunity was a National Science Foundation (NSF) research grant solicitation aimed at jump-starting high-risk, high-reward work that merges synthetic biology with semiconductor and computing technologies. The program was jointly organized across NSF divisions spanning engineering (Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems, ECCS), computer and information science (Computing and Communication Foundations, CCF), and biology (Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, MCB), and it was built as a partnership with the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) through its Global Research Collaboration (GRC) program, along with the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA). The core idea was to accelerate entirely new foundations for information processing, storage, and signal processing by taking inspiration from how living systems store, manipulate, and preserve information, then translating those principles into device concepts and fabrication approaches that can connect to or complement semiconductor platforms.

At a technical level, the solicitation emphasized that future computing and storage systems may need to move beyond conventional scaling and energy limits by adopting mechanisms found in organic systems, operating at the intersection of chemistry, biology, and engineering. The call envisioned information technologies that use biological principles and biomaterials as part of devices and components, rather than treating biology as a separate application domain. The long-term performance targets described were intentionally bold: concepts that could enable data retention beyond 100 years, storage density up to 1,000 times current capabilities, and compact computing systems that operate at substantially lower power than todays computers. In other words, SemiSynBio was less about incremental improvements to existing memory and compute architectures and more about exploring fundamentally different physical and biochemical substrates for computation and storage, with the expectation that breakthroughs could have major downstream impact on advanced information technologies.

The research scope was explicitly interdisciplinary and designed to force collaboration across fields that do not always work together. Projects were expected to blend expertise from biology, engineering, physics, chemistry, materials science, computer science, and information science, reflecting the reality that progress in this area depends simultaneously on understanding biological information processes, engineering them using synthetic biology, and integrating or interfacing them with semiconductor-relevant materials, devices, and system concepts. The solicitation highlighted enabling technologies and underlying scientific questions as central: teams needed to tackle the fundamental barriers that prevent synthetic biological mechanisms from being harnessed reliably, predictably, and manufacturably in technology contexts that resemble or integrate with semiconductor workflows.

From a programmatic standpoint, SemiSynBio was a discretionary grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number 17-557) under NSF research and development activity categories, associated with CFDA numbers 47.041, 47.070, and 47.074. The published award ceiling was $500,000 per award, with an expectation of around 10 awards. The original closing date listed for proposals was October 18, 2017, and the opportunity was created May 4, 2017. Eligibility was not limited to a single standard category in the summary and was indicated as "Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification)," meaning applicants needed to consult the full solicitation language for precise eligibility rules.

Overall, this opportunity can be read as an attempt to create a focused pipeline of exploratory research at the boundary of synthetic biology and semiconductor information technology, specifically targeting ideas that could redefine how information is stored and processed when traditional electronic approaches hit energy, scaling, or durability limits. The NSF-SRC-IARPA partnership structure also signaled interest in both foundational science and plausible longer-range technology transition paths, while still keeping the emphasis on early-stage, concept-defining research and workforce and educational impacts that come from training researchers in truly cross-cutting domains.

• The National Science Foundation in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Semiconductor Synthetic Biology for Information Processing and Storage Technologies" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 47.041, 47.070, 47.074.
• This funding opportunity was created on May 04, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Oct 18, 2017. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $500,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 10 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

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