Genome Canada is pleased to advise the research community of an upcoming funding opportunity – the 2017 Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (B/CB) Competition. This competition is anticipated to be formally launched in December 2017 with detailed Guidelines and application forms available at that time.
This funding opportunity will be aimed at supporting research projects to address any aspect of bioinformatics[1] and computational biology[2] (B/CB) as it relates to genomics[3] across all of Genome Canada’s sectors, i.e., human health, agriculture, aquaculture/fisheries, forestry, energy, mining and the environment.
The major objectives of this RFA are to:
- Support the development of next generation Bioinformatics and Computational Biology tools and methodologies that will be required to deal with the large amounts of data produced by modern genomics technologies, analyze and integrate complex data sets and to better understand the associated biology
- Provide broad and timely access of these Bioinformatics and Computational Biology tools to the research community.
The Competition will support proposals under two streams:
- Stream 1: proposals mainly impacting the human health sector
- Stream 2: proposals mainly impacting one or more of the other sectors, i.e., agriculture, aquaculture/fisheries, forestry, energy, mining and/or the environment
A total of $12 million will be available from Genome Canada. Approximately 50% of the available Genome Canada funding will be invested in each stream as defined above. Genome Canada will invest between $250,000 and $500,000 in an individual project. At least half of the requested funding for eligible costs for each project must be obtained through co-funding from other sources, resulting in projects of $500,000 or more in size. Successful individual projects will be awarded funding for a term of up to three years.
Applicants will be required to apply for funding through their regional Genome Centre. The application process will be comprised of two steps: Registration and Full Application. Based on a December 2017 Competition launch, the deadline for Registrations is currently set for February 1, 2018.
For more information, contact Hélène Fournier, Program Director, Scientific Affairs: hfournier@genomequebec.wp.vortexdev.com – 514 398-0668, ext. 219
[1]The term bioinformatics is defined here as the development and application of computational tools and approaches for maximizing the use of genomics data.
[2] The term computational biology is defined here as the development and application of theoretical data-analytical methods, mathematical modeling and computational simulation techniques in the context of the study of biological systems.
[3] The term genomics is defined here as the comprehensive study, using high throughput technologies, of the genetic information of a cell or organism and its functions. The definition also includes related disciplines such as bioinformatics, epigenomics, metabolomics, metagenomics, nutrigenomics, pharmacogenomics, proteomics and transcriptomic.