Funding opportunities in nanoscience abound, a panel of government representatives told scientists in a July 10th roundtable session on research priorities at the American Society for Microbiology's Conference on Bio-, Micro-, and Nanosystems in New York City. "Interdisciplinary" was the catchphrase of the day, as agency representatives stressed their interest in collaborative and integrative proposals.
"We've recently come to the recognition that the greatest challenges and opportunities require us to work at the boundaries of academic disciplines," said Doug Lowndes, director of the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS) now under construction at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
"Almost every institute at the National Institutes of Health has nanoscience and nanotechnology initiatives," said Eleni Kousvalari. "We want not only hypothesis-driven, but design-driven research, focused on the use of nanotechnology for things like disease diagnosis and imaging."
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has set aside nearly $250 million ...
