Reflections on the National
Science Foundation’s
Understanding the
Rules of Life Program
_____________
Carol Berkower, Rapporteur
Board on Life Sciences
Division on Earth and Life Studies
Proceedings of a Workshop Series
NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001
This activity was supported by a contract between the National Academy of Sciences and the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization or agency that provided support for the project.
International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-70262-1
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-70262-3
Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.17226/27020
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Suggested citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Reflections on the National Science Foundation’s Understanding the Rules of Life Program: Proceedings of a Workshop Series. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/27020.
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PLANNING COMMITTEE ON UNDERSTANDING THE RULES OF LIFE PROGRAM—SCIENTIFIC ADVANCEMENTS AND FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES: A WORKSHOP SERIES
DAVID SHAW (Chair), Provost and Executive Vice President, Mississippi State University
DENNIS E. DISCHER (NAE/NAM), Robert D. Bent Professor, University of Pennsylvania
KOSTANTINOS T. KONSTANTINIDIS, Richard C. Tucker Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology
JENNIFER MARTINY, Professor, University of California, Irvine
MARGARET MCFALL-NGAI (NAS), Director, Division of Biosphere Sciences and Engineering, Carnegie Institution for Science
CONNIE J. MULLIGAN, Professor, University of Florida
RANDY J. NELSON, Professor and Chair, Department of Neuroscience, West Virginia University
KEEGAN SAWYER, Project Manager, KeyLogic Associates
COREY J. WILSON, Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology
Staff
KAVITA M. BERGER, Director, Board on Life Sciences
CAMILLA YANDOC ABLES, Study Director, Senior Program Officer
JESSICA DE MOUY, Research Associate
CHRISTL A. SAUNDERS, Program Coordinator
Consultants
CAROL BERKOWER, Science Writer
ANNE FRANCES JOHNSON, Editor
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Reviewers
This Proceedings of a Workshop Series was reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in making each published proceedings as sound as possible and to ensure that it meets the institutional standards for quality, objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the process.
We thank the following individuals for their review of this proceedings:
DANIEL BOLNICK, University of Connecticut
DENNIS DISCHER (NAS/NAM), University of Pennsylvania
HOLLIE PUTNAM, University of Rhode Island
DANIEL TALMAGE, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the content of the proceedings nor did they see the final draft before its release. The review of this proceedings was overseen by DAVID D. MOORE (NAS). He was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this proceedings was carried out in accordance with standards of the National Academies and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content rests entirely with the rapporteur and the National Academies.
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Contents
THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION’S BIG IDEA ON UNDERSTANDING THE RULES OF LIFE
Larger Themes and Rules of Life
Multidisciplinary Research/Multi-Team Research: Examples of Challenges and Strategies for Success
Suggestions for Future Iterations of the URoL Program
Societal Impact and Significance of Work
Larger Themes and Rules of Life
Multidisciplinary Research/Multi-Team Research: Examples of Challenges and Strategies for Success
Suggestions for Future Iterations of the URoL Program
Societal Impact and Significance of Work
3 UROL: BUILDING A SYNTHETIC CELL
Larger Themes and Rules of Life
Multidisciplinary Research/Multi-Team Research: Examples of Challenges and Strategies for Success
Societal Impact and Significance of Work
4 UROL: MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH, EDUCATION AND TRAINING, AND BROADER IMPACTS
Multidisciplinary and Interdisciplinary Research
Education and Training for Multidisciplinary Teams
Broader Impacts of Research Under the URoL Program
B BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES FOR WORKSHOP PLANNING COMMITTEE AND PARTICIPANTS
BOXES AND FIGURES
BOXES
4-1 The Key Programmatic Goals of the Understanding the Rules of Life Program
4-2 Examples of Participant Takeaways and Suggestions from the Cross-Cutting Workshop
FIGURES
T-1 Timeline of the Understanding the Rules of Life program
T-2 Statistics of the URoL initiative
T-3 Geographic distribution of URoL principal investigators
4-1 Diversity of scientific disciplines involved in the first five programs of the URoL program
Acronyms and Abbreviations
| 3D | three-dimensional |
| AD | anaerobic digesters |
| AI | artificial intelligence |
| ATP | adenosine triphosphate |
| C3 | plants in which the initial product of the assimilation of carbon dioxide through photosynthesis is 3-phosphoglycerate, which contains three carbon atoms |
| ChIP-seq | chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing, a method used to analyze protein interactions with DNA |
| CO2 | carbon dioxide |
| DEB | dynamic energy budget |
| DNA | deoxyribonucleic acid |
| F1 | filial 1, the first filial generation plant or animal offspring resulting from a cross-mating of distinctly different parental types |
| Hi-C | a high-throughput genomic and epigenomic technique method for analyzing chromatin interactions |
| K-12 | elementary and secondary school grades kindergarten through grade 12 |
| LC-MS/MS | liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry combined with mass spectrometry |
| LTER | long-term ecological research |
| mRNA | messenger RNA |
| N2O | nitrous oxide |
| ncRNA | non-coding RNA |
| NIH | National Institutes of Health |
| NSF | National Science Foundation |
| PCR | polymerase chain reaction |
| PI | principal investigator |
| RNA | ribonucleic acid |
| RNA-seq | RNA sequencing |
| rRNA | ribosomal RNA |
| SNP | single nucleotide polymorphism |
| STEM | science, technology, engineering, and mathematics |
| TEK | traditional ecological knowledge |
| tRNA | transfer RNA |
| URoL | Understanding the Rules of Life |
| URoL:EN | URoL: Emergent Networks program |
| URoL:MIM | URoL: Microbiome Interactions and Mechanisms program |
| URoL:MTM | URoL: Microbiome Theory and Mechanisms program |
| YTH | YTH (protein domain), a member of the YTH family that has been shown to selectively remove transcripts of meiosis-specific genes expressed in mitotic cells |
