New grants tackle integration

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced the recipients of its new Frontiers in Integrative Biological Research (FIBR) grants. Six teams of researchers were each awarded $5 million to conduct interdisciplinary studies on evolution, development, and reproduction over the next 5 years.

Each proposal was required to explain how researchers from a variety of disciplines could come together to investigate a specific question in biology. A single panel of ecologists, geneticists, informatics experts, and others reviewed a total of 114 proposals. "To be successful, the proposal needed to convince all the people at the table that this was an interesting and biologically significant question," Chris Greer, program director at NSF, told The Scientist. The six proposals that were chosen are "a remarkable collection of projects."

So far, recipients say they are excited about the opportunities created and the resources provided by these grants. "We'll be able to do so much ...