In early December, the National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Biological Sciences released a “Request for Information—Integration Institutes for Cross-Cutting Biology” outlining a new initiative by the directorate to create “Integration Institutes.” These institutes will unite researchers from a variety of scientific fields to conduct studies and training that exceed the amount of support and time customary of current NSF awards. The hope is that creating such institutes will reintroduce a sense of cohesion within the biological field, which recently has become fractured into a variety of more specified areas of study.
To this end, the directorate is requesting that scientists based in the United States submit their thoughts on areas of imminent biological progress. With this call, the directorate seeks to answer the question, “What fundamental biological research question is poised for breakthroughs by collaboration across biological subdisciplines? Why is this question important?” The feedback received will be used to guide the directorate in establishing several Integration Institutes in the future.
SOT members can and should use this call as a means to emphasize the importance and connection of toxicology-related issues to biology—and many other sciences.
The deadline to submit input is March 1, 2019, and interested scientists may send their suggestions—as well as any questions—to BIO-RFI-II@nsf.gov. Suggestions should take the form of a Word document not exceeding two pages. For more information, including the specifics of what content a response should include, please see the full text of the request for information.