Call for 1,000 Fungal Proteins Campaign, FY 2027

EMSL is seeking proposals to contribute to the ongoing 1,000 Fungal Proteins Community Science Campaign. Through these calls, researchers from around the world can apply to use EMSL resources and collaborate with EMSL scientists at no cost to the submitting researchers.

The 1,000 Fungal Proteins campaign aims to utilize biochemical and structural biology resources, both experimental and computational (including simulation, data analytics, and informatics), to accelerate the annotation of proteins of unknown function across the fungal kingdom.

Scope

Individual proposals can be submitted by a single principal investigator (PI), multiple PIs, or teams from multiple institutions with any number of participants. Proposals MUST align with one of the topic areas for fungal bioproduction below and should be narrow in scope (e.g., up to 10 target proteins). Projects seeking to characterize a larger number of targets are possible, but users must email Campaign Lead James Evans before submission to confirm compatibility with existing high-throughput multiwell workflows and get additional guidance. Accepted proposals are valid for 12 months.

Fungal Bioproduction Topics

• Product‑forming enzymes (intra- or extracellular)
• Protein secretion machinery
• Cell wall/morphogenesis
• Transporters and pumps
• Organic acid production modules
• Metal and mineral interaction (siderophore biosynthesis and uptake)
• Stress tolerance

Sample Requirements

User samples can enter the campaign pipeline at various points, including users who already have proteins or metabolites highly purified and available for shipment to those users who only have a gene or protein sequence (such as those found in the Joint Genome Institute's Mycocosm).

Samples of Interest

• Target protein sequences
• Target genes that are cell-free vectored 
• Target proteins or multiprotein complexes that have been purified
• Fungal cells with a high copy of the target protein in vivo

Samples must be ready to ship to EMSL within three months of the project start date. Awarded projects that do not send samples within this time frame may be canceled.

Instruments and Resources

Projects for 1,000 Fungal Proteins may access and use most EMSL instrumentation and resources, including the following:

• Cell-free expression pipeline
• Native mass spectrometry
• Nuclear magnetic resonance
• Krios cryo-transmission electron microscope
• Aquilos 2 cryo-focused ion beam/scanning electron microscope
• Tahoma mid-range scientific computing.

Final determination and allocation of resources will be made by EMSL staff after proposal evaluation and award.

How to Submit

Submit a proposal through Science Central using the 1,000 Fungal Proteins Campaign proposal template. (See "Related Links" section on this webpage.) Proposal authors should email Campaign Lead James Evans in advance of submission with any questions.

Qualifying Criteria

All proposals will be evaluated on the following criteria:

• Relevance to the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science's Biological and Environmental Research (BER) program's mission as well as alignment with the campaign topics
• Aggregated target protein feasibility score based on sequence, size, class, etc.
• Overall capacity of the campaign.

Priority will be given to researchers with BER funding aligned with the campaign. For example, this includes work that is BER-funded or DOE Office of Science-funded research that is BER-aligned (e.g., Genesis Mission Award winners). BER researchers should email Campaign Lead James Evans if their desired analytics fall outside the scope of the core and complementary analytics defined for this proposal call. Eligible proposals will generally be accepted in submission order until capacity is reached.