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Award ID | Description | Recipient | Total Value | Awarding Agency | Funding Agency | Set Aside | NAICS | PSC | Award Date | Start Date | End Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUTOMATED DEEP LEARNING FOR SPACEFLIGHT RODENT BEHAVIOR QUANTIFICATION AND HEALTH PHENOTYPING | SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, THE | $150,000 | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | — | — | AJ11GENERAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY R&D SERVICES; GENERAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY; BASIC RESEARCH | Dec 11, 2023 | Nov 15, 2023 | Nov 14, 2025 | ||
| EVOLUTION OF CATALYTIC RNA AND THE ORIGINS OF LIFE | SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, THE | $1,000,379 | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | — | — | AR11SPACE R&D SERVICES; SPACE FLIGHT, RESEARCH AND SUPPORTING ACTIVITIES; BASIC RESEARCH | Jul 1, 2022 | May 2, 2022 | May 10, 2025 | ||
| THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS PART OF A NASA-SPONSORED EFFORT TO UNDERSTAND THE ORIGIN OF LIFE ON EARTH, WHICH WILL GUIDE THE SEARCH FOR LIFE ELSEWHERE IN THE UNIVERSE. THE RESEARCH PERTAINS TO A FORM OF RNA-BASED LIFE THAT LIKELY EXISTED DURING EARTH S EARLY HISTORY, AS A PREDECESSOR TO CURRENT DNA-RNA-PROTEIN-BASED LIFE. BUILDING ON PROGRESS MADE OVER THE PRIOR GRANT PERIOD, THE CENTRAL AIM OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS TO CONSTRUCT RNA-BASED LIFE IN THE LABORATORY, AS REPRESENTED BY POPULATIONS OF RNA ENZYMES THAT CATALYZE THEIR OWN REPLICATION AND UNDERGO DARWINIAN EVOLUTION IN A SELF-SUSTAINED AND OPEN-ENDED MANNER. MOST OF THESE EFFORTS WILL FOCUS ON AN RNA POLYMERASE RIBOZYME THAT IS NOW ABLE TO SYNTHESIZE FUNCTIONAL RNAS AND TO CATALYZE THE EXPONENTIAL AMPLIFICATION OF SHORT RNAS. THE ENZYME IS NOT YET ABLE TO SYNTHESIZE ITSELF, BUT THAT GOAL IS LIKELY TO BE ACHIEVABLE WITH ADDITIONAL OPTIMIZATION, PRIMARILY BY EMPLOYING IN VITRO EVOLUTION METHODS TO ENHANCE THE RATE, FIDELITY, AND SEQUENCE GENERALITY OF THE POLYMERASE. ALTHOUGH THE AIM IS TO SYNTHESIZE THE POLYMERASE IN ITS ENTIRETY, A DIVIDE-AND-CONQUER APPROACH ALSO WILL BE PURSUED, WHEREBY THE ENZYME WILL BE DIVIDED INTO FRAGMENTS THAT CAN ASSEMBLE NON-COVALENTLY TO FORM A CATALYTIC COMPLEX, WITH EACH OF THE FRAGMENTS (AND THEIR COMPLEMENTS) SYNTHESIZED BY THE ASSEMBLED COMPLEX. THIS APPROACH MAY REFLECT WHAT TRANSPIRED ON THE PRIMITIVE EARTH, BUT ALSO EXPLORES A GENERAL PRINCIPLE FOR HOW DARWINIAN SYSTEMS MIGHT ARISE. THE DIVIDE-AND-CONQUER APPROACH HAS ALREADY BEEN USED FOR THE POLYMERASE RIBOZYME TO SYNTHESIZE ITS EVOLUTIONARY ANCESTOR, AN RNA LIGASE RIBOZYME, WHICH CAN BE DIVIDED INTO FRAGMENTS THAT ARE SYNTHESIZED SEPARATELY AND CAN ASSEMBLE NON-COVALENTLY TO FORM A FUNCTIONAL CATALYST. THIS APPROACH WILL BE EXTENDED TO THE SYNTHESIS OF LARGER AND MORE COMPLEX RNA ENZYMES, INCLUDING THE POLYMERASE ITSELF. A SURPRISING DISCOVERY DURING THE PRIOR GRANT PERIOD WAS THAT HIGHLY OPTIMIZED FORMS OF THE RNA POLYMERASE RIBOZYME ALSO CAN FUNCTION AS A REVERSE TRANSCRIPTASE, COPYING RNA TEMPLATES TO COMPLEMENTARY DNA PRODUCTS. THIS ACTIVITY WOULD HAVE BEEN CRUCIAL FOR THE TRANSITION FROM RNA TO DNA GENOMES DURING THE EARLY HISTORY OF LIFE. MORE RECENTLY IT WAS SHOWN THAT THE POLYMERASE CAN COPY DNA TEMPLATES TO RNA PRODUCTS AND, AT LOWER EFFICIENCY, COPY DNA TEMPLATES TO DNA PRODUCTS. FURTHERMORE, RNA TEMPLATES CAN BE COPIED TO YIELD VARIOUS POLYNUCLEOTIDE ANALOGS, MOST NOTABLY THREOSE NUCLEIC ACID (TNA), WHICH HAS BEEN SUGGESTED AS A POSSIBLE PREDECESSOR TO RNA. THESE ACTIVITIES WILL BE OPTIMIZED USING IN VITRO EVOLUTION TO GENERATE A FAMILY OF POLYMERASE RIBOZYMES THAT CAN BOTH AMPLIFY AND TRANSCRIBE MACROMOLECULAR INFORMATION IN VARIOUS FORMS. ALTHOUGH LIFE ON EARTH CAME TO ADOPT RNA, AND ULTIMATELY DNA, AS THE GENETIC MATERIAL, A BROADER VIEW IS REQUIRED WHEN CONSIDERING THE POSSIBILITY OF LIFE ELSEWHERE. ONCE A SYSTEM IS IN HAND FOR THE SELF-SUSTAINED EVOLUTION OF RNA, IT WILL BE POSSIBLE TO CONDUCT OPEN-ENDED RNA EVOLUTION EXPERIMENTS, BOTH AS A WORKING MODEL OF RNA-BASED LIFE AND AS A MEANS TO EXPLORE THE DIVERSIFICATION OF RNA FUNCTION. THE PROMISE OF SUCH EXPERIMENTS WAS EXAMINED PREVIOUSLY USING A SELF-REPLICATING LIGASE RIBOZYME, WHICH COULD BE MADE TO ADAPT TO DIFFERENT SELECTION CONSTRAINTS. HOWEVER, THAT SYSTEM HAS A VERY LIMITED CAPACITY TO EVOLVE AND IS NOT CAPABLE OF INVENTING NOVEL FUNCTION. IN CONTRAST, THE POLYMERASE ENZYME SUPPORTS MUCH HIGHER INFORMATION CONTENT AMONG THE RNAS BEING REPLICATED. IT IS ALREADY CAPABLE OF SYNTHESIZING COMPLEX FUNCTIONAL RNAS WITH GOOD FIDELITY, AND ITS CAPABILITIES WILL BE ENHANCED THROUGH FURTHER OPTIMIZATION. ULTIMATELY, WHEN THE ENZYME HAS THE ABILITY TO GENERATE COPIES OF ITSELF, THE SYSTEM WILL BECOME SELF-OPTIMIZING, BOTH FOR WHAT IT EVOLVES AND FOR ITS CAPACITY TO EVOLVE. IT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO CAPTURE THE DEFINING FEATURE OF LIFE AND TO PROVIDE THE FIRST EXAMPLE OF A LIVING SYSTEM OUTSIDE OF TERRESTRIAL BIOLOGY. | SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, THE | $924,030 | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | — | — | AR21 | Apr 12, 2019 | Mar 19, 2019 | Mar 18, 2022 | ||
| DEVELOP SYNTHETIC DELTA AGONIST- BAA | SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, THE | $1,849,249 | US SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND (USSOCOM) | US SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND (USSOCOM) | — | 541714Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) | AZ13 | Jul 25, 2018 | Jul 27, 2018 | Jul 29, 2021 | ||
| THIS PROPOSAL DESCRIBES WORK THAT IS PART OF A LARGER NASA-SPONSORED EFFORT TO UNDERSTAND THE ORIGIN OF LIFE ON EARTH, WHICH WILL GUIDE THE SEARCH FOR LIFE ELSEWHERE IN THE UNIVERSE. IT PERTAINS TO A FORM OF RNA-BASED LIFE THAT LIKELY EXISTED DURING EARTH S EARLY HISTORY, AS A PREDECESSOR TO THE CURRENT DNA-RNA-PROTEIN-BASED LIFE. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH AIMS TO CONSTRUCT RNA-BASED LIFE IN THE LABORATORY AS REPRESENTED BY POPULATIONS OF RNA ENZYMES THAT CATALYZE THEIR OWN REPLICATION AND UNDERGO DARWINIAN EVOLUTION IN A SELF-SUSTAINED MANNER. THE RESEARCH ALSO SEEKS TO UNDERSTAND MOLECULAR PROCESSES THAT ARE FUNDAMENTAL TO THE ORIGIN OF LIFE ON EARTH AND ELSEWHERE. DURING THE COURSE OF PRIOR NASA-SPONSORED RESEARCH, OUR LABORATORY DEVELOPED THE FIRST EXAMPLE OF AN RNA ENZYME THAT CATALYZES ITS OWN REPLICATION AND CAN TRANSMIT HERITABLE INFORMATION FROM PARENT TO PROGENY MOLECULES. THIS SYSTEM INVOLVES PAIRS OF RNA ENZYMES THAT CATALYZE EACH OTHER S SYNTHESIS BY JOINING TOGETHER COMPONENT OLIGONUCLEOTIDE BUILDING BLOCKS. EACH BUILDING BLOCK CAN HAVE MANY ALTERNATIVE COMPOSITIONS AND CAN BE JOINED IN MANY DIFFERENT COMBINATIONS. IN ADDITION, NEW VARIANTS CAN ARISE THROUGH RECOMBINATION DURING THE COURSE OF REPLICATION. VARIANTS THAT REPLICATE MOST EFFICIENTLY GROW TO DOMINATE THE POPULATION UNTIL NEW, MORE ADVANTAGEOUS VARIANTS ARISE, RESULTING IN AN ONGOING DARWINIAN BATTLE FOR SURVIVAL. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH AIMS TO INCREASE THE COMPLEXITY OF THE PRESENT RNA-BASED EVOLVING SYSTEM SO THAT IT CAN BRING ABOUT THE INVENTION OF NOVEL FUNCTION. LARGE, HETEROGENEOUS POPULATIONS OF SELF-REPLICATING RNAS WILL BE CHALLENGED TO ADAPT TO VARIOUS ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS, RESULTING IN THE EMERGENCE OF NOVEL FUNCTIONAL TRAITS THAT CONFER SELECTIVE ADVANTAGE. AS THE ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS CHANGE, FURTHER ADAPTATIONS WILL ARISE THROUGH EVOLUTIONARY PROCESSES THAT CAN BE CONTINUED INDEFINITELY. THIS WORK HAS THE POTENTIAL TO PROVIDE THE FIRST EXAMPLE OF A LIVING SYSTEM OUTSIDE OF TERRESTRIAL BIOLOGY. IT ALSO WILL SHED LIGHT ON THE CHEMICAL BASIS OF LIFE AND ON THE PRESUMED ANCESTOR OF CONTEMPORARY LIFE ON EARTH. | SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, THE | $151,465 | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | — | — | AR21 | Sep 19, 2017 | Sep 19, 2017 | Mar 18, 2019 | ||
| SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES:1188718 [15-003718] | SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, THE | $4,050 | NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH | NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH | — | 541712 | 6505DRUGS AND BIOLOGICALS | May 5, 2015 | May 5, 2015 | Aug 8, 2020 | ||
| SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES:1188718 [15-001779] | SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, THE | $4,050 | NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH | NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH | — | 541712 | 6505DRUGS AND BIOLOGICALS | Jan 12, 2015 | Jan 12, 2015 | Feb 12, 2015 | ||
| SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES:1188718 [14-003073] | SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, THE | $4,050 | NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH | NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH | — | 541712 | 6505DRUGS AND BIOLOGICALS | Apr 17, 2014 | Apr 17, 2014 | May 17, 2014 | ||
| SALK INSTITUTE [11-005896] | SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, THE | $24,450 | NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH | NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH | — | 541712 | 6640LABORATORY EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES | Aug 11, 2011 | Aug 11, 2011 | Sep 9, 2011 | ||
| INVESTIGATION OF NURAL STRATEGIES OF VISUAL SEARCH | SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, THE | $941,609 | NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION | — | — | — | AN11HEALTH R&D SERVICES; HEALTH CARE SERVICES; BASIC RESEARCH | Dec 16, 2002 | Dec 16, 2002 | Dec 9, 2007 | ||
| — | SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, THE | $0 | NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH | — | — | — | AN11HEALTH R&D SERVICES; HEALTH CARE SERVICES; BASIC RESEARCH | Jul 15, 1997 | Jul 15, 1997 | Sep 15, 2000 | ||
| — | SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, THE | $0 | DEPT OF THE NAVY | — | — | — | L099TECHNICAL REPRESENTATIVE- MISCELLANEOUS | Jul 14, 1997 | Jul 14, 1997 | — | ||
| — | SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, THE | $1,914,000 | NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH | — | — | — | AN11HEALTH R&D SERVICES; HEALTH CARE SERVICES; BASIC RESEARCH | Sep 15, 1996 | Sep 15, 1996 | Sep 29, 2000 | ||
| — | SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, THE | $0 | NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH | — | — | — | AN11HEALTH R&D SERVICES; HEALTH CARE SERVICES; BASIC RESEARCH | Dec 15, 1994 | Dec 15, 1994 | Sep 30, 2004 | ||
| — | SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, THE | $0 | NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH | — | — | — | AN11HEALTH R&D SERVICES; HEALTH CARE SERVICES; BASIC RESEARCH | Mar 15, 1994 | Mar 15, 1994 | Nov 15, 1994 | ||
| — | SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, THE | $0 | NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH | — | — | — | AN11HEALTH R&D SERVICES; HEALTH CARE SERVICES; BASIC RESEARCH | Mar 15, 1993 | Mar 15, 1993 | Nov 15, 1994 | ||
| — | SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, THE | $0 | NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH | — | — | — | AN11HEALTH R&D SERVICES; HEALTH CARE SERVICES; BASIC RESEARCH | Jan 15, 1993 | Jan 15, 1993 | Dec 15, 1994 | ||
| — | SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, THE | $0 | NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH | — | — | — | AN11HEALTH R&D SERVICES; HEALTH CARE SERVICES; BASIC RESEARCH | Nov 15, 1992 | Nov 15, 1992 | Dec 15, 1992 | ||
| — | SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, THE | $0 | NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH | — | — | — | AN11HEALTH R&D SERVICES; HEALTH CARE SERVICES; BASIC RESEARCH | Dec 15, 1991 | Dec 15, 1991 | — | ||
| — | SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, THE | $0 | NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH | — | — | — | AN11HEALTH R&D SERVICES; HEALTH CARE SERVICES; BASIC RESEARCH | Sep 15, 1991 | Sep 15, 1991 | — | ||
| — | SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, THE | $0 | DEPT OF THE ARMY | — | — | — | AN95 | Jan 15, 1991 | Jan 15, 1991 | — | ||
| — | SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, THE | $0 | NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH | — | — | — | AN11HEALTH R&D SERVICES; HEALTH CARE SERVICES; BASIC RESEARCH | Nov 15, 1990 | Nov 15, 1990 | — |