NSF X-LABS INITIATIVE: From Sequence to Function

Sponsor: NSF
Internal Deadline: 12/01/2026
Institutional Submission Limit: varies
Sponsor Deadline: 02/08/2027
Program Website

NSF X-Labs represent a bold, flexible, and outcomes-driven initiative designed to build and accelerate novel platform technologies capable of unlocking entirely new sectors, including new fields of scientific inquiry. The program will support full-time research and development (R&D )teams focused on use-inspired scientific breakthroughs and foundational platform technologies that traditional university and industry labs cannot easily address. NSF X-Labs teams will benefit from ambitious R&D goals, operational autonomy, milestone-based funding, and the ability toengage across academia, industry, national laboratories, and nonprofit sectors. NSF X-Labs will bet on ambitious, full-time teams working with urgency and purpose, and provide them with the structure, resources, and flexibility necessary to cultivate early-stage platform technologies that
will accelerate breakthroughs and unlock entirely new sectors of the economy.  

An NSF X-Labs Mission in this Topic must be transformative, accelerating breakthroughs in our understanding of the relationship between sequence and function, and catalyzing capabilities to engineer proteins or entire genomes with exceptional new capabilities. Successful teams will develop platform technologies, demonstrate measurable impact on the U.S. biotechnology landscape, and position their technologies for widespread use by overcoming technical barriers that limit implementation and investment. Although NSF X-Labs in this space will have widespread applicability, each team should identify 2-3 high-utility domains and should eventually establish projects in them. Teams proposing to this topic should identify how their approach to biosafety and biosecurity is tailored to their Mission and its pilot application domains including an assessment of dangerous gain-of-function and an accompanying plan to mitigate unintended consequences.

Organization Limits

• An eligible organization can submit a maximum of two Written Proposals per Topic Announcement for Phase 0 as a lead organization.


• Senior/Key Personnel may be listed on a maximum of one Written Proposal per Topic Announcement.

Note: There will be a webinar with Q&A regarding this NOFO on November 18, 2026 at 2-3 p.m. Eastern. See solicitation for details.

Submission Process

Limited submissions MUST be coordinated with the Office of the Vice President for Research.

If interested in applying for this opportunity, please combine the following items into a single PDF and email to resdev@mailbox.sc.edu by 5pm on the INTERNAL DEADLINE above:

• Cover page with grant program name & number (if applicable) to which you are applying, your project title, PI (name, department/unit, & email), and list of co-PIs/key collaborators (name & department/unit)
• a two-page project abstract addressing key components/criteria for this specific grant program
• a 2-3 page CV/biosketch for the PI (SCiENcv preferred)