The National Science Foundation announced a new X-Labs funding opportunity on October 16 focused on connecting biological sequences with function. The topic, From Sequence to Function, seeks platform technologies that could make the design of proteins and genomes more predictable.

Advances in determining protein structures have provided researchers with increasingly detailed static pictures. NSF identifies a remaining challenge: understanding dynamic behavior well enough to engineer biological systems reliably. A structure alone does not demonstrate how a protein will perform in changing conditions or in a larger living system.

The opportunity is the fourth portfolio topic in X-Labs, a broader initiative launched in May with a planned investment of $1.5 billion over a decade. That figure describes the overall initiative, not an award to this single topic. X-Labs uses multidisciplinary teams and milestone-based funding to pursue ambitious technical goals.

NSF separately set October 30 as the deadline for suggestions about future X-Labs topics and announced a November 18 informational webinar. Neither date should be mistaken for a completed research result or a grant award under the new bioengineering opportunity.