OpenPlant Fund (deadline: 24th November 2017)

The OpenPlant Fund is now open to proposals for innovative, open and interdisciplinary projects relevant to plant or in vitro Synthetic Biology. Projects run for six months and can include biological research, hardware prototyping, software, outreach, policy work and training. For this round applications focused on training and knowledge exchange are especially encouraged.


A wealth of tools, technologies and methodologies have been developed for plant and cell free Synthetic Biology, including those developed through OpenPlant, the OpenPlant Fund, the Biomaker Challenge and complementary efforts. In the current OpenPlant Fund call, we are encouraging applications for projects that will provide training or knowledge exchange to broaden the use of plant and cell-free synthetic biology tools, techniques and technologies.

Applicants should be graduate students or postdoctoral workers at the University of Cambridge, the John Innes Centre or The Sainsbury Laboratory. The team must be interdisciplinary, must contain members from both Norwich and Cambridge and may contain external collaborators of any type. Applicants must have agreement from their research supervisor and cost-code sponsor that the proposed project and management of the allocated funding will fit with their existing work. All proposals must lead to tangible, publicly documented and open outcomes, which could include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Design files and prototype for a hardware project
  • Software development and documentation
  • White paper arising from a workshop
  • Educational resource
  • Synthesis and sharing of useful DNA parts or vectors.

Each successful project will receive up to £5k, with £4k up front and an additional £1k for follow-on and outreach after reporting. PhD students and postdocs are particularly encouraged to apply.


If you are interested in submitting a proposal or have any questions, please email colette.matthewman@jic.ac.uk. For more information and to apply see the OpenPlant Fund webpage.

Information about previous OpenPlant Fund projects are available on www.biomaker.org