NSF opens bioengineering funding call with awards of up to $50 million a year

The US National Science Foundation (NSF) has opened a bioengineering funding opportunity under its X-Labs initiative, inviting research teams to develop technologies that could improve scientists’ ability to design proteins and genomes with predictable functions.

Announced on Oct 16, the From Sequence to Function opportunity targets a gap in bioengineering. Although scientists can increasingly predict the static structures of proteins, understanding how proteins behave dynamically and perform biological functions remains a challenge, the NSF said.

The programme seeks platform technologies that can reliably connect biological sequences and structures with function. Potential applications include biomanufacturing, chemical engineering, biosensing and agriculture.

Funding and deadlines

The opportunity offers up to $1.5 million for Phase 0, which supports early-stage team development and refinement of research missions. Teams selected to advance to Phase 1 may receive up to $50 million per year, subject to the programme’s selection process and award conditions.

The proposal deadline is February 8, 2027, at 5 pm Eastern time, according to the federal solicitation notice on SAM.gov.

Who can apply?

The opportunity is intended for eligible US domestic organisations capable of establishing full-time, interdisciplinary research and development teams.

These teams are expected to have the technical expertise and operational flexibility to pursue ambitious research goals. Phase 1 teams must meet the programme’s requirements for organisational independence.

The initiative operates through an Other Transactions Agreement mechanism rather than a conventional research grant. Applicants should therefore check the official solicitation and topic announcement for eligibility, submission requirements and award conditions before preparing proposals.

The bioengineering call forms part of the NSF’s broader X-Labs initiative, announced in May 2026 as a planned $1.5 billion investment over a decade in independent research organisations and milestone-based projects addressing major scientific and technological challenges.