Reflections on the National Science Foundation’s Understanding the Rules of Life Program

In 2016, the National Science Foundation (NSF) established a five-year program on Understanding the Rules of Life (URoL) to identify generalizable rules that govern biological systems at micro and macro levels. At the request of NSF, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a series of workshops to explore the achievements of the URoL program. Presenters and participants discussed integration of multi-disciplinary, systems-level approaches, broader implications for studying highly complex systems, future scientific questions and future societal needs, and the production of generalizable rules that apply to different fields and scales. This publication summarizes the presentation and discussion of the workshop.

Contents

• The National Academies of SCIENCES • ENGINEERING • MEDICINE
• PLANNING COMMITTEE ON UNDERSTANDING THE RULES OF LIFE PROGRAM—SCIENTIFIC ADVANCEMENTS AND FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES: A WORKSHOP SERIES
• Reviewers
• Acronyms and Abbreviations
• The National Science Foundation’s Big Idea on Understanding the Rules of Life
• 1. URoL: Epigenetics
  • SCIENTIFIC ADVANCEMENTS
  • LARGER THEMES AND RULES OF LIFE
  • MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH/MULTI-TEAM RESEARCH: EXAMPLES OF CHALLENGES AND STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS
  • SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE ITERATIONS OF THE UROL PROGRAM
  • SOCIETAL IMPACT AND SIGNIFICANCE OF WORK
  • EDUCATION AND TRAINING
• 2. URoL: Microbiome
  • SCIENTIFIC ADVANCEMENTS
  • LARGER THEMES AND RULES OF LIFE
  • MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH/MULTI-TEAM RESEARCH: EXAMPLES OF CHALLENGES AND STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS
  • SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE ITERATIONS OF THE UROL PROGRAM
  • SOCIETAL IMPACT AND SIGNIFICANCE OF WORK
  • EDUCATION AND TRAINING
• 3. URoL: Building a Synthetic Cell
  • SCIENTIFIC ADVANCEMENTS
  • LARGER THEMES AND RULES OF LIFE
  • MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH/MULTI-TEAM RESEARCH: EXAMPLES OF CHALLENGES AND STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS
  • EDUCATION AND TRAINING
  • SOCIETAL IMPACT AND SIGNIFICANCE OF WORK
• 4. URoL: Multidisciplinary Research, Education and Training, and Broader Impacts
  • MULTIDISCIPLINARY AND INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
  • EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR MULTIDISCIPLINARY TEAMS
  • BROADER IMPACTS OF RESEARCH UNDER THE URoL PROGRAM
• Appendix A. Workshop Agendas
• Appendix B. Biographical Sketches for Workshop Planning Committee and Participants
• Appendix C. URoL-Funded Projects

Suggested citation:

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Reflections on the National Science Foundation’s Understanding the Rules of Life Program: Proceedings of a Workshop Series. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/27020.

Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.17226/27020

This publication is available from the National Academies Press, 500 Fifth Street, NW, Keck 360, Washington, DC 20001; (800) 624-6242 or (202) 334-3313; http://www.nap.edu.

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