DUE DATES
Full Proposal Target Date:  July 12, 2009

July 12, Annually Thereafter

Full Proposal Target Date:  January 12, 2010

January 12, Annually Thereafter

SYNOPSIS

The Physiological and Structural Systems Cluster supports research
aimed at furthering the understanding of organisms as integrated units
of biological organization.  The Cluster considers proposals focused
on interacting physiological and structural systems, their
environmental and evolutionary contexts, and how these components are
constrained by their integration into the whole organism.  Projects
that use systems approaches to understand why particular patterns of
architecture and regulatory control have emerged as general organismal
properties are particularly encouraged.  Understanding how and why
emergent organismal properties such as robustness, adaptability and
resilience arise in the context of environmental, genetic, biochemical
and morphological variation are of interest.  The Cluster encourages
model building to augment traditional experimental approaches in order
to guide research on complex functional networks.  Multidisciplinary
approaches to the study of organismal systems including research at
the interfaces of biology, physics, chemistry, mathematics, computer
science and engineering are encouraged in each of the following
areas.

Symbiosis, Defense and Self-recognition - This programmatic area
supports research on the processes and structures that mediate
intimate interactions between two or more organisms.  Proposals are
encouraged that focus on the dynamics of initiation, dissolution and
stability of these complex associations through studies of underlying
processes of communication, immunological recognition and signaling,
feedbacks, and reciprocal responses between interactors.  All aspects
of symbiosis, including commensalisms, mutualisms, parasitism and host-
pathogen interactions are included.

Processes, Structures and Integrity - The focus of this programmatic
area is on understanding the unity of organisms as complex systems
through studies of coherent, structural and functional properties and
interactions.  Systems approaches that predict or reveal the nature of
coordination among functional processes and/or structural components
as a means to further the understanding of organismal integrity and
emergent properties are particularly encouraged.

Organism-Environment Interactions - The focus of this programmatic
area is on the structures and processes that affect organismal
performance and interactions during routine, changing, or stressful
environmental conditions.  The program seeks proposals aimed at
understanding how interactions among genetic, biochemical,
morphological and physiological processes result in integrated
organismal responses.  Increasing emphasis is placed on understanding
how and why such interactions result in emergent properties such as
adaptability, plasticity, and robustness (i.e., both resistance and
resilience).  Special emphasis is placed on projects that adopt
systems approaches, including quantitative and qualitative analysis,
theoretical models and prediction to understand the dynamics and
control of organismal responses to the environment from near term to
evolutionary time frames.

Summary Award Information - In FY 2008, the Division of Integrative
Organismal Systems funded 16% of submitted proposals, and the mean
annual award was $144,326.