Biotechnology & Bioeconomy Initiatives

Biotechnology & Bioeconomy Initiatives is sponsored by U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). These initiatives support foundational science and translational pathways in engineering biology, sustainable biomanufacturing, and next-generation bio-based innovation.

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Whether it's lifesaving vaccines or biodegradable plastics, advances built on the discovery, use and alteration of living things are growing the U.S. economy and transforming fields as diverse as medicine and manufacturing, agriculture and clean energy. Find funding in biotechnology NSF's decades of sustained investments have ensured the continual advance of the field of biotechnology.

Pioneering work supported by NSF includes: NSF-funded researchers discovered a microbe whose heat-tolerant enzyme is the key to polymerase chain reaction (PCR): a foundational technology in medicine, biotechnology, forensics and basic research.

## Visualizing living cells NSF-funded researchers developed a molecular tool, using the enzyme responsible for firefly bioluminescence, that allows researchers to noninvasively study living cells and tissues.

NSF-supported research led to a Nobel Prize-winning technique, known as directed evolution, to create new enzymes that can catalyze chemical reactions and produce new cancer treatments, plant-based fuels, better industrial chemicals and many other products.

## Protein prediction and design With NSF support, researchers have been able to predict the structure of proteins from their amino acid sequence and design entirely new proteins, leading to a Nobel Prize in chemistry. With NSF funding, biologists sequenced the first plant genome (_Arabidopsis thaliana_), enabling the development of new crops with improved cold tolerance and yield.

NSF-funded research on the immune system in bacteria led to the development of a gene editing tool, CRISPR-Cas9, that has revolutionized biotechnology and earned its inventors the Nobel Prize in chemistry. NSF-funded researchers have developed ways to grow cells on a scaffold, forming tissues that can replace damaged skin or bone.

## Recombinant DNA and insulin NSF supported a landmark research project that revolutionized insulin drugs and jump-started the U.S. biotechnology industry. Explore NSF's impacts in biotechnology We support research that increases understanding of biological principles and integrates that knowledge with engineering, computing, geology, mathematics and the physical and social sciences to push the frontiers of science and engineering.

### Use-inspired research We support the development of bio-based and bio-inspired materials, machines, robots and manufacturing technologies for scientific and societal benefit. ### Research infrastructure We support the development of computing and physical infrastructure necessary to generate fundamental knowledge and advance biotechnology and biomanufacturing.

### Education and workforce development We support the creation of a skilled workforce ready to develop and use the biotechnology breakthroughs of the future. ### Partnerships to accelerate progress We partner with other federal agencies, industry and nonprofits to share data, tools, expertise and other resources; strengthen workforce development; and translate research into products and services that benefit society.

### America's Seed Fund (SBIR/STTR) Supports startups and small businesses to translate research into products and services, including biological technologies and biomedical technologies, for the public good. ### Engineering Biological and Biomedical Systems Supports engineering research on platforms, devices, organisms, tissues, and processes that advance knowledge and control of biological functions.

### Smart Health and Biomedical Research") Supports research that leverages advances in computing and information science, engineering, mathematics, statistics, behavioral and/or cognitive research to address pressing questions in the biomedical and public health communities.

Explore more funding in biotechnology ### NSF directorates supporting biotechnology research * #### Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) * #### Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) * #### Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) * #### STEM Education (EDU) * #### Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP) * #### International Science and Engineering (OISE) * #### Integrative Activities (OIA) ### NSF launches three new Science and Technology Centers with $90M investment in transformative research ### NSF announces $1.

5B for foundational research to drive scientific breakthroughs for American technological leadership ### Podcast: New treatment to fight deadliest cancer Explore biotechnology news * Expanding the Frontiers of Biotechnology This factsheet highlights NSF's roles in advancing the bio-industries of the future and accelerating new technologies to benefit society.

* Bioeconomy Distinguished Lecture Series Watch videos of lectures on topics ranging from the future of bioengineering to bio-inspired design. * Center for Genetically Encoded Materials This NSF-funded center focuses on developing new methods to program chemical matter for designing and producing materials and medicines.

* Center for Research on Programmable Plant Systems This NSF-funded center focuses on building an Internet of Living Things and manipulating plants and their microbiomes to improve agriculture. * InnovATEBIO National Center for Biotechnology Education This NSF-funded educational center offers a variety of programs to prepare students for work in biotechnology companies and research institutions.

* NSF Center for Cellular Construction This center aims to develop an engineering discipline that can design and build cells and tissue with specific three-dimensional structures. * National Ecological Observatory Network A continental-scale ecological observatory with sensor networks, instrumentation, observational sampling, natural history archives and remote sensing.

* NSF Engineering Research Center for Cell Manufacturing Technologies This center focuses on enabling high-quality, scalable biomanufacturing of therapeutic cells for affordable cures to chronic diseases. * NSF Engineering Research Center for Cellular Metamaterials This center focuses on revolutionizing cardiovascular care with biotechnology and nanomanufacturing.

* NSF Science and Technology Center for Quantitative Cell Biology This center seeks to quantitatively describe the physical and chemical processes that define the functional state of a cell. * NSF-Simons Research Centers for Mathematics of Complex Biological Systems These research centers are establishing new connections between the mathematical and biological sciences to accelerate biotechnologies.

* "CHIPS and Science Act of 2022" The act establishes the interagency National Engineering Biology R&D Initiative and authorizes NSF to support biotechnology-related R&D.

* Publication date: October 27, 2023 * Last updated: September 1, 2026 Image credits & captions on this page In an era of rapidly advancing biotechnology, companies funded by the NSF SBIR/STTR program represent some of the most advanced biomedical and health care technologies created by small businesses. This image shows unspecialized cells capable of dividing into other kinds of cells, also known as stem cells.

These particular cells, called undifferentiated human mesenchymal stem cells, are used by Nanofiber Solutions in medical implants. Credit: Nanofiber Solutions After 21 days in a culture, the mini-brain, originally derived from postnatal rat cortex, contains multiple cells including neurons (blue) and astrocytes (green). Nuclei are labeled in gray.

The mini-brain was developed by a bioengineering team at Brown University and can form networks and are electrically active.

Credit: Hoffman-Kim lab/Brown University Rice University graduate student Shelly Hsiao-Ying Cheng shows the tool she created with Rice associate professor of biochemistry and cell biology Joff Silberg to conduct two experiments in the same dish: One where biochar, a charcoal that is produced typically from waste wood, manure or leaves, had a chance to interfere with a microbial conversation and another where it did not.

In this study, the first of its kind, the researchers used synthetic biology to study how biochar can interfere with the chemical signals that some soil microorganisms use to communicate and interact with plants. Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University A research project by principal investigator Harkamal Walia at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln focuses on ensuring global food security by improving crop resilience.

Here, Walia checks the progress of a rice plant growing in the Lemna Tech High Throughput Phenotyping facility at the Greenhouse Innovation Center on the Nebraska Innovation Campus. Credit: University Communication/University of Nebraska-Lincoln Dr. Janel Cabrera (center) with research students Enya Selders (Class of 2024) and Arthur Langford (Class of 2025).

Credit: Janel Cabrera/Emmanuel College Erwin Gianchandani, Assistant Director of TIP, greets attendees at NSF's 2023 Industry Convening. NSF's Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships convened industry leaders to explore potential areas of collaboration.

NSF's Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships convened industry leaders to explore potential areas of collaboration that will unleash the technologies and workforce of tomorrow.

Credit: Charlotte Geary/NSF Credit: U.S. National Science Foundation Chemical_engineering_color Credit: U.S. National Science Foundation Credit: U.S. National Science Foundation * Our Directorates & Offices * Budget, Performance & Financial Reporting Let us know how we're doing, and how we can make NSF. gov better for you. This survey is for feedback on the **NSF website experience only**.

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