Part 4

THE DIVISION OF BIOLOGICAL AND MEDICAL SCIENCES

A. PROCESS OF REVIEW AND SELECTION OF RESEARCH PROPOSALS

Grants for basic research in the life sciences are administered by the Division of Biological and Medical Sciences of the Foundation. Proposals for research in the life sciences originate with the scientists and are selected with the help of scientific consultants who serve on advisory panels to the Foundation. Recommendations for support are based primarily on scientific merit. Other criteria involved in the review of proposals are the scientific ability of the project personnel, the relation of the proposal to contemporary research in the field, the scientific resources of the institution, the reasonableness of the budget, and the merit of the proposals in relation to others received by the Foundation in related fields of science. In short, each investigator who submits a proposal to the Foundation may feel that it has been fairly considered by a competent group of his own peers.

In its program for the support of basic research, the Foundation is free from the limitations imposed upon other agencies by their assigned mission. The interest of the Foundation is in the stimulation and advancement of knowledge for its own sake. Such a broad interest allows the Foundation and its consultants to select research proposals without consideration of practical requirements of specific goals. Such "free" research is vital to the progress of science and the future of the Nation. Other Government agencies support basic research projects-and such support is a valuable part of all Government research programs-but their selection of proposals must necessarily be justified in terms of their assigned mission, and their support programs, therefore, have a close relationship to their operational goals.

B. ORGANIZATION AND DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAMS

The Foundation's program in the life sciences has been organized on a functional level rather than on a disciplinary basis. In this way, the Foundation has conceived basic research in the life sciences so that biological processes, whether in plant, animal, or man, will be seen in their basic contexts. Such a conception has the added advantage that interdisciplinary relationships may be more easily handled from both an administrative and a scientific information point of view. The Foundation's life science program is organized into the following categories:

1. Developmental biology

In the area of developmental biology, a wide variety of research is supported, covering chemical embryology (metabolism of embryos); plant growth (hormonal control); plant morphogenesis (shoot or root apex activity, floral induction, and slime mold development); chloro

plast differentiation; physiology of reproduction (ovarian, uterine, and placental physiology); regeneration (wound healing); skin and tumor grafting; histology; histochemistry; anatomy; embryology (plant and animal); and cytology (mechanisms of mitosis). Specifically, studies are being supported on the sequence of the events which operate in limb formation in mammalian organisms by such techniques as tissue transplantation and interchange of organism parts; nucleic acid metabolism and the changes which occur in it during early development of the mammalian embryo; the mechanisms of cellular interactions, particularly their biochemical and biophysical aspects; the origin and fate of special initiator cell members of cell populations; and microscopic structure and histochemistry of the fine structure of the skin in primates.

2. Environmental biology

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The environmental biology program supports a wide variety of projects including various aspects of animal and plant ecology, both terrestrial and aquatic, life histories, environmental physiology, paleoecology, certain phases of parasitology, and other areas of biology in which the major immediate emphasis is on the interrelationships between the external physiological, biological, or sociological factors of the environment and one or more organisms. though much research activity in environmental biology continues to be descriptive and devoted to observations of gross physical habitat and organism survival relationships, the NSF program has tended to emphasize studies analyzing the discrete functional aspects of the interaction, exchanges, and adjustments of the members of the plant and/or animal community to their physical and biological environPopulation dynamics in its many aspects, including cyclic phenomena, continues to be an expanding interest.

3. Genetic biology

Within the genetics program, studies in the area of microbial genetics include work aimed at elucidating the mechanisms by which enzymes involved in biochemical syntheses are controlled genetically. Studies also are being supported on gene-enzyme interrelationships, pointed toward enhancing our understanding of the interactions between gene and enzyme. Research on the genetics of higher plants includes work on mutations in maize as well as work on cotton and tobacco. Significant research relating to the theoretical aspects of quantitative genetics also is being supported.

4. Molecular biology

The molecular biology program encompasses studies of the physical and chemical properties of substances of biological origin; studies of individual enzymes such as isolation, purification, properties, kinetics, and mechanism of action; and such aspects of physical biology as fine structure, membrane phenomena, chemical and physical properties of particulates. Current grants are concentrated in the areas of protein structure, enzyme kinetics, bioenergetics, membrane phenomena, and photobiology, with somewhat less emphasis on biogenesis, immunochemistry, and biochemical cytology.

5. Psychobiology

The substance of the psychobiology program is research covering the underlying neurological and neurochemical aspects of behavior.

Another traditional interest of the program is in relating newly developed quantitative techniques to experimental problems in psychology, especially the development of psychological measurement models, and the use of multivariate methods in psychological research. In a somewhat related area, the impact of computer techniques on research in the field of psychology is illustrated by grants aimed at developing computer techniques for handling data from the area of learning research.

6. Regulatory biology

The program in regulatory biology supports some of the outstanding research in the country in such conventional fields as neurophysiology and endocrinology. However, exciting research in less traditional areas is illustrated by projects involved in the study of chemical processes that result in rhythms of the nature of biological clocks. The program also encompasses investigations of the development of regulatory processes in fetal and newborn organisms; in the chemical senses of insects; and in other organismic regulatory processes. 7. Systematic biology

The areas of research in systematic biology comprise essentially three levels of complexity. At the first level, the units of organic diversity are discovered, identified, characterized, and named. At the second level, the major task of taxonomy is classification, the arrangement of the otherwise chaotic mass of species into the socalled higher categories. At the third level, systematic biology is the study of the interrelationships of organisms in space and in time. The application of comparatively new techniques to problems of classification is demonstrated by research on the fine structure of pollen grains, on paper electrophoresis as a method in avian taxonomy, and on serological studies of the grass family. At the third level of complexity in the systematic area, valuable summarizing research is underway on the zoogeography and evolution of Pacific insects, on the speciation of amphibian populations, and on the Drosophilidae of the Caribbean region.

8. Metabolic biology

Some of the outstanding research which is being supported by the metabolic biology program covers the following areas: The problem of enzyme-inhibitor relationships responsible for cellular metabolic activity; elucidation of the enzymatic mechanisms occurring in the metabolism of higher plants; and the investigation of certain aspects of protein biosynthesis. Other exciting projects will be a study of the function of nucleic acids in growth, differentiation, and induced enzyme formation, and the investigation of the basic mechanisms of mammalian carbohydrate metabolism.

The Foundation's support of basic research in the life sciences does not distinguish between the medical and biological sciences since fundamental studies in both areas are intimately related. The Foundation generally does not support clinical research, nor does it make grants for studies of special diseases since these are supported by other Government and private groups.

C. STATISTICAL DETAILS OF THE PROGRAMS

Presented in table 1 is a detailed summary of the research proposals received and grants awarded by programs during fiscal year 1958. These data may be compared with the preceding 6 fiscal years from information contained in the same table. A compilation of the grants for basic research supported by the Division of Biological and Medical Sciences of the Foundation, and of the institution and principal investigator involved, are shown in appendix 1. In order to facilitate reference use of the listings, items are grouped by the functional basis used above.

TABLE 1.-Dollar value of research proposals received and grants awarded by the Division of Biological and Medical Sciences

As in past fiscal years, all programs continued to profit from the help of advisory panels. There is no question that the quality of Foundation support programs is a direct function of the work of the scientists who comprise these groups. The staff unanimously expresses its appreciation for the time and effort spent. Membership of advisory panels is shown in appendix 2.

D. RESEARCH FACILITIES SUPPORT PROGRAM

The Biological and Medical Sciences Division's program for the support of research facilities which was active in preceding years was continued in fiscal year 1958. In fiscal year 1958, the budget division continued to support research facilities on the basis of competitive

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proposals. Fifteen formal facility support proposals were received, of which 10 were supported as follows:

The total amount of support awarded in these grants amounted to slightly less than $1 million.

Somewhat related to facility support were a number of equipmenttype grants of a size beyond that normally conceived of as part of a single research proposal. These varied in size from requests for a Spinco ultracentrifuge to those for the purchase and installation of electron microscopes. In all cases, equipment grants were made on a basis of the quality of the research program being pursued in which the equipment was to play an integral part. In the case of electron microscopes, it also was the practice of the Division to have assurances from the recipient institution that there would be participation in the use of the microscope to the extent of a full-time technician whose salary was to come from the institution receiving the equipment.

E. TRAINING UNDER THE RESEARCH GRANT PROGRAM

Research grants with biological and medical sciences play an important part in the training of both predoctoral students and postdoctoral research associates. In fiscal year 1958, some 400 research assistants and some 150 research associates received support under the grant program.

F. SHORT-TERM RESEARCH BY MEDICAL STUDENTS

As in previous years, the Division's program for the support of research by medical students was continued in fiscal year 1958. The deans of all medical schools in the country were informed of the availability of such grants on a competitive basis. Proposals were received from 49 medical schools, requesting a total of about $1.25 million. As was the case last year, the proposals were reviewed by a special panel created for this purpose. As the result of panel recommendations, grants were awarded to 17 schools, each grant being for a period of 3 years. The total amount of funds made available to the 17

1 Several other informal proposals were made which were not processed beyond initial discussions. In the face of limited funds, institutions were advised to defer formal proposals which involve detailed work such as architects' plans until fiscal year 1959 possibilities were clarified.