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NSF Advances in Biological Informatics (ABI) Program FAQs

1) What is the NSF Advances in Biological Informatics (ABI) program?

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Advances in Biological Informatics (ABI) program is a discretionary grant opportunity that supports informatics-driven approaches for analyzing, managing, sharing, and using biological knowledge. ABI emphasizes tools, methods, and resources that make biological data and insights more accessible, interoperable, and useful to the research community and the broader public.

2) What kinds of projects does ABI aim to support?

ABI supports the creation and improvement of biological informatics approaches, including tools, methods, resources, and cyberinfrastructure that can meaningfully benefit users beyond a single lab or short-term study. Projects are expected to have clear relevance to biological research needs and to deliver broader value to the community.

3) What research areas should ABI projects be relevant to?

The program places particular emphasis on informatics tools, methods, and resources that can advance or transform research areas supported by NSF's Directorate for Biological Sciences. In practical terms, proposals should align with biological research needs and demonstrate how the work will be useful to the broader biology community.

4) What are the main proposal categories under ABI?

ABI accepts three main kinds of proposals, reflecting different stages of cyberinfrastructure maturity:

• Innovation awards
• Development awards
• Sustaining awards

5) What is an Innovation award under ABI?

Innovation awards are intended for pioneering ideas such as novel algorithms, unconventional computational methods, new ways to integrate heterogeneous biological datasets, or new strategies for representing and disseminating biological knowledge. These projects are typically exploratory and aimed at testing or demonstrating new informatics concepts that could open new directions in biology.

6) What is a Development award under ABI?

Development awards focus on building robust, scalable cyberinfrastructure that can enable transformative biological research. Examples described in the opportunity include platforms, databases, software frameworks, workflows, or community resources engineered for reliability and broad use.

7) What is a Sustaining award under ABI?

Sustaining awards are meant to keep critical existing cyberinfrastructure operating and improving over time. This includes support for ongoing maintenance, operations, user support, and upgrades for resources the community relies on that remain important to priority areas of biological research.

8) Does ABI support both new ideas and long-term support for existing resources?

Yes. The three award categories indicate ABI is interested in (1) generating new informatics ideas, (2) developing promising concepts into stable, broadly usable resources, and (3) sustaining essential cyberinfrastructure so it continues to operate and improve after initial development funding.

9) What is the funding instrument for this opportunity?

The funding instrument is a grant.

10) What is the activity category associated with this ABI solicitation?

The activity category is Science and Technology and other Research and Development.

11) What is the CFDA number for this ABI opportunity?

The associated CFDA number is 47.074 (Biological Sciences).

12) How many awards did NSF anticipate making under this call?

NSF anticipated making about 30 awards under this solicitation.

13) What was the estimated total funding level for this ABI call?

The estimated total funding level was $15,000,000.

14) Is cost sharing or matching required?

No. The opportunity states that cost sharing or matching is not required.

15) Who is eligible to apply?

Eligibility is centered on U.S.-based organizations engaged in education or research. Eligible applicants include accredited U.S. colleges and universities (including two-year and four-year institutions and community colleges) applying on behalf of their faculty.

16) Are non-academic organizations eligible to apply?

Yes. The program allows proposals from certain non-profit, non-academic organizations such as independent museums, observatories, research laboratories, professional societies, and similar U.S. entities associated with educational or research activities.

17) Why does ABI include eligibility for organizations like museums and professional societies?

The eligibility mix reflects ABI's interest in community-serving infrastructure and resources, which often involve collaborations across universities, museums, societies, and other organizations that curate data, build tools, and support broad user communities.

18) What is the publication and funding opportunity number for this ABI solicitation?

This solicitation is NSF Publication 15-582, Funding Opportunity Number 15-582.

19) When was this ABI opportunity posted, and what was the proposal deadline?

The solicitation was posted on June 25, 2015, and the proposal deadline was September 22, 2015.

20) Is this ABI opportunity currently active?

No. The opportunity was archived on October 14, 2018.

21) Where are the full opportunity details referenced?

The listing references the full opportunity details under NSF Publication 15-582.

22) Who should applicants contact for help with accessing the announcement or electronic submission issues?

For support related to accessing the full announcement or working through the electronic submission pathway, the listing points to NSF Grants.gov support at grantsgovsupport@nsf.gov.