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Proposal Package Guidance for FICUS Research Proposals with JGI and EMSL, FY2022

This guidance is for authors who have been invited to submit a full proposal to the call for FY2022 FICUS research with JGI and EMSL, following review of their Letter of Intent.

Researchers preparing proposals are encouraged to contact or continue discussions with EMSL and JGI scientific staff regarding their research goals and resource needs. For help identifying the appropriate contacts, see the contacts identified in the Proposal Call or contact the User Services.

Creating and Submitting a Proposal

Proposals must be submitted electronically through EMSL's User Portal. Details regarding the proposal format, attachments, and submittal process are unique to this call. Conforming to these instructions will be strictly enforced, and proposals that are not consistent with these instructions will not be considered.

Some proposal details are entered directly into the User Portal during submission, but the main scientific narrative and appendices, described in the Proposed Research section below, are uploaded as a single PDF.

Participants

The participants indicated on your Letter of Intent will appear in the proposal form. You may add or modify participants for the full proposals.

Abstract

The abstract entered on your Letter of Intent will appear in the proposal form. You may modify the abstract text for the full proposal.

Proposed Research

The proposal form will request a description of the proposed research to be uploaded as a PDF. Instructions for this document are given below.

Proposed Research Document Formatting

  • 10-page limit for project description. Additional 10 pages of supporting materials allowed, such as charts, graphs, and figures.

  • Pagination is required

  • 11-point fonts (or larger for headings). Captions, symbols, special characters, can have a font of less than 11 points.

  • 1-inch margins

  • No more than 5 lines of text within a vertical space of one inch

  • Single-column format for text

  • Adobe (.pdf) file format

Proposed Research Project Description

Describe your research plan, utilizing resources from the requested facilities. Suggested word counts are given for each section. The abstract submitted on the web-based proposal form does not count against the 10-page limit and should not be repeated in your Project Description.

The Project Description should be written at a level appropriate for someone familiar with your general area of research who is not necessarily an expert on the specific topic. Refer to the review criteria on the proposal call webpage to assist in targeting your research description.

The Project Description should include the following sections:

  • Title The project title must be brief, scientifically or technically valid, intelligible to a scientifically or technically literate reader, and suitable for use in the public press.

  • Specific Aims (~700 words). State the specific objectives of the research proposed (e.g., to test a stated hypothesis, create a novel design, solve a specific problem, challenge an existing paradigm, address a critical barrier to progress in the field, or develop new technology).

  • Mission Relevance (~700 words). Describe the relevance and impact of this project to DOE’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research mission areas, as well as EMSL and JGI missions, and its economic or societal importance.

  • Background (~400 words). Provide a concise discussion of previous work to make clear what the research problem is, why you want to do this particular study, exactly what has been accomplished, and demonstrate why the studies need to be continued.

  • Approach (~1200 to 1500 words). Describe the work to be conducted, along with any preliminary data, background measurements, or tests completed that validate the approach (include references where relevant and attach the full citations as an appendix). Please address the strategy for preparing and delivering samples to both EMSL and JGI, providing approximate shipping dates to each facility. Please refer to the JGI sample preparation requirements for details on quantity and quality of material required for each product type.

  • For JGI:
    • For proposals including a sequencing component, specific technical details describing how the sequencing should be carried out are not necessary. If your proposal is accepted, JGI staff will work with you to define the sequencing scope in detail based on current capabilities, which are constantly changing. Include expectations from JGI beyond generating the raw sequencing reads and output from JGI's standard analysis pipelines, along with justifications for the additional support.

    • For proposals requesting metabolomics, please specify metabolic hypotheses that motivate the analyses, including target classes of metabolites, ideally specific target metabolites, and total number and types of samples (including replicates).

    • All proposals including a synthetic biology component must describe the biosecurity, biosafety, biocontainment, and environmental aspects of the proposed research in Appendix 3 (resource request), including both the current aspects and the long-term implications of the work (desirable or otherwise). This information will be critically assessed during the JGI's Synthetic Biology Internal Review process, and missing or incomplete information will jeopardize consideration of the proposal.

  • Computing Approach (required if the EMSL Tahoma high-performance computing cluster access is requested. 1-page maximum, in addition to 10-page limit). Provide details about the computational method or approach and software to be used. Provide details for the computing and data storage request using the Computing Resources Template (see Related Documents). There is no upper limit on node hours that can be requested, but the amount of time requested must be justified and tied to the scientific aims of the EMSL request. If you have any questions regarding these requirements, please contact Jay Bardhan.

Appendices

The following appendices should be included with your project description in a single PDF document in the order listed below.

Appendix 1: References Lists (required)

Each reference must include the names of all authors (in the same sequence in which they appear in the publication), the article and journal title, book title, volume number, page numbers, and year of publication. The Nature citation format is recommended. If the document is available electronically, the website address also should be identified. Proposers must be especially careful to follow accepted scholarly practices in providing citations for source materials relied upon when preparing any section of the proposal. While there is no established page limitation for the references, this section must include bibliographic citations only and must not be used to provide parenthetical information outside of the 10-page Project Description.

Appendix 2: CVs (required)

Attach abbreviated CVs (2-page maximum each) for the PI and each of the key investigators that would support the review of the team's qualifications for the research proposed.

Appendix 3: Resources Requested (required)

For JGI resources, attach a completed table of resource requests and sample information (see Related Documents). The table will include the total number of samples to be sent, as well as product type and details for each organism or environmental sample being submitted.

For EMSL resources, the online proposal form will request details about resources needed. If you know specific resources needed for the project, select them from the drop-down list and provide the requested sample details for each. If you do not know all the specific resources you will need, describe the type of measurements and analyses desired. The details you provide will help our staff determine which instruments will best serve your research goals. The proposal form will also request safety-related details about any samples and equipment that you plan to bring to EMSL.

For CSMB resources, additional sample details are required for a technical feasibility review. Please use the template provided (see Related Documents).

Note: If you are unsure how to fill out the resource requests, reach out the contacts listed below at least two weeks prior to the deadline. They will work with you regarding the specific needs for your research aims. Failure to complete the table correctly will affect your proposal's resource score and insufficient details justifying your request can impact the review panel discussions.

Appendix 4: Letters of Support (optional)

Appendix 5: Active Collaborator List (required)

To help avoid conflicts of interest on our Proposal Review Panel, please attach a list of active collaborations (see Related Documents - example below) that the PI and co-PI(s) have had in the past 2 years. In addition to research projects, collaborations might include co-authors with whom you've actively interacted, co-editors, advisors or advisees or financial affiliations with an institution or individual. Participation in very large collaborative efforts with an individual does not necessarily constitute a conflict of interest. Identify those who would have a personal interest in this proposal or whose unbiased judgment would be questioned by a reasonable person familiar with your relationship. You may substitute a list from a recent NSF, DOE, or other proposal that meets the spirit of this request and lists in excess of 100 collaborators (per investigator) can be shortened to include only the closest collaborators. Please use your best judgment in these cases.

1596
Name Key Co-Author Collaborator Advisee / Advisor (specify) Other (specify nature)
Agarie, Jeremy X
Antony, Mark X Advisor
Barnes, Jeremy X X
Blaxter, Johan Co-owner private company
Cushman, Joan X X
Jones, Maurice X X
Smith, Jane Advisee

Contacts

General Inquiries

Detailed Research Questions