OpenPlant Fund (deadline: 30th June 2017)

The OpenPlant Fund supports innovative, open and interdisciplinary projects relevant to plant Synthetic Bioloy over 2015-19. Up to 20 six-month projects per year will receive £4k each, with an additional £1k awarded on completion for follow-on and outreach.

Overview

The aim of OpenPlant Fund is to promote the development of plant Synthetic Biology as an interdisciplinary field and to facilitate exchange between The University of Cambridge, the John Innes Centre, the Earlham Institute and The Sainsbury Laboratory for the development of open technologies and responsible innovation in the context of Synthetic Biology.  This call is also encouraging applications related to use of cell-free extracts from bacteria, plants, yeast or other organisms to transcribe and translate engineered DNA. Cell-free synthetic biology is gaining popularity for prototyping genetic circuits and metabolic pathways and has many applications from production of biologics to paper-based diagnostic tests and biosensors.

OpenPlant Fund Mixers- Eligibility  

Applicants and teams: Primary applicants should be students or staff at the University of Cambridge, John Innes Centre or the Earlham Institute. External team members are welcome. Interdisciplinarity within the team is a judging priority but teams from the same background are not excluded. Where possible, projects should build collaborations between the University of Cambridge and a Norwich-based OpenPlant partner institute: the John Innes Centre or the Earlham Institute.

Proposals:  All proposals must lead to tangible, publicly documented and open outcomes which demonstrate interdisciplinary thinking. Applications for travel or event funding without justification of how this will lead to a tangible outcome or resource will not be considered. Salary or stipend costs will not be funded.

Contact Details

Please contact Dr Colette Matthewman with any enquiries at colette.matthewman@jic.ac.uk or on +44 (0)1603 450267.