The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to solicit input for a potential ARPA-E program focused on the development of tools to enable plant genetic engineering and synthetic biology. The goals for this potential program include the evaluation of technologies capable of:
- Accelerating plant genetic modifications;
- Increasing the range of genetic modifications possible; and
- Decreasing the variability and reducing the difficulty of regenerating plants after genetic modifications.
ARPA-E is interested in technologies to rapidly generate and test genetic modifications in a wide variety of plant cultivars, unlocking the iterative design-build-test-learn loops that have enabled rapid innovation in other engineering fields. Interest is given to non-model organisms that can be deployed in the field for energy applications. ARPA-E is requesting information to evaluate approaches meeting the goals of this programmatic concept.
Areas Not of Interest for Responses to this RFI:
- Work focused on basic research aimed purely at discovery and fundamental knowledge generation;
- Land management or agronomic practices; and
- Microbial approaches to engineer soil or plant microbiomes
ARPA-E seeks input from plant scientists, plant geneticists, molecular biologists, synthetic biologists, crop breeders, and robotics and machine learning engineers. Additionally, ARPA-E seeks input from other stakeholders in the plant biotechnology ecosystem, including seed producers, growers, plant transformation centers, and biotechnology companies.
RFI Guidelines:
Note that the information you provide will be used by ARPA-E solely for program planning, without attribution. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. THIS NOTICE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A FUNDING OPPORTUNITY. NO FUNDING OPPORTUNITY EXISTS AT THIS TIME.
The purpose of this RFI is solely to solicit input for ARPA-E consideration to inform the possible formulation of future research programs. ARPA-E will not provide funding or compensation for any information submitted in response to this RFI, and ARPA-E may use information submitted to this RFI without any attribution to the source. This RFI provides the broad research community with an opportunity to contribute views and opinions.
No material submitted for review will be returned and there will be no formal or informal debriefing concerning the review of any submitted material. ARPA-E may contact respondents to request clarification or seek additional information relevant to this RFI. All responses provided will be considered, but ARPA-E will not respond to individual submissions or publish a compendium of responses. Respondents shall not include any information in the response to this RFI that could be considered proprietary or confidential.
Responses to this RFI should be submitted in PDF format to the email address ARPA-E-RFI@hq.doe.gov by 5:00 PM Eastern Time on November 11, 2024.