The National Science Foundation (NSF), through its Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems (ECCS) in the Directorate for Engineering (ENG), Division of Computing and Communication Foundations (CCF) in the Directorate for Computer and InformationScience and Engineering (CISE), and Division
of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences (MCB) in the Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO), has established a partnership with the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), through its Global Research Collaboration (GRC) program, andthe Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) to announcea solicitationon the"Semiconductor Synthetic Biology for Information Processing and Storage Technologies (SemiSynBio)".
Future ultra-low-energy computing, storageand signal-processing systems can be built on principles derived from organic systems that are at the intersection of chemistry, biology, and engineering.
New information technologies can be envisioned that are based on biological principles and that use biomaterials in the fabrication of devices and components; it is anticipatedthat these information technologiescould enable stored data to be retainedfor more than 100 years and storage capacityto be 1,000 timesgreater than current capabilities.These could also facilitate compact computers that will operate with substantially lower power than today’s computers.
Research in support of these goalscan have a significant impact on advanced information processing and storage technologies.
This focused solicitation seeks high-risk/high-return interdisciplinary research on novel concepts and enabling technologies that will address the scientific issues and technological challenges associated with the underpinnings of synthetic biology integrated with semiconductor technology.
This research will foster interactions among various disciplines including biology, engineering, physics, chemistry, materials science, computer science, and information science that will enable heretofore-unanticipated breakthroughsas well asmeet educational goals.