Dr. Susanne von Bodman

A Word from Dr. Theresa Good, Acting Division Director

tgood-photo

As many of you may know, our Division Director, Dr. Linda Hyman, recently returned to her previous position as Associate Provost for the Division of Graduate Medical Sciences at Boston University. Linda led MCB through some difficult times: the death of a dear friend and colleague, Dr. Kamal Shukla; the retirement of a dedicated colleague and advocate for the synthetic biology community, Dr. Susanne Von Bodman; and the transition of a number of staff members into different roles within the Foundation and elsewhere in federal service. From all of us at MCB, thank you Linda, for the time you took away from your role at Boston University to lead us and for your year and a half of service to the Foundation. Good luck as you return back to Boston University.

As I now take on the role of Acting Division Director, I am thankful to have the support of talented program directors, staff, and colleagues, like Dr. Gregory Warr, who have previously served in this role.  All are dedicated to the NSF mission of transforming the frontiers of science and engineering, and stimulating innovation to address societal needs through research and education. While change is occasionally uncomfortable, it often brings about opportunities. We are excited to have a number of new program directors who you will meet over the coming months (Dr. E.J. Crane, Dr. Michael Weinreich, and Dr. Jarek Majewski), new staff members (Grace Malato), and the expert leadership of a new Operations Manager (Dr. Reyda Gonzalez-Nieves). Two of our dedicated program directors, first Dr. Michelle Elekonich, and then Dr. Karen Cone, will serve as the acting Deputy Division Director in two respective 120 day rotations. Michelle and Karen both have experience in division leadership and will work with me to ensure the efficient operations and attention to science vision for which MCB is known.

In addition, a new solicitation will be issued and some new workshops are being developed to catalyze conversations about the future directions of MCB science. Within MCB, we are poised to do our part to invest in science, engineering, and education for the nation’s future.

We look forward to engaging the scientific community during panels, meetings, and outreach visits about how to best serve science and the needs of the nation. We ask you to continue to work with us by: submitting your best ideas in proposals, continuing to participate in peer review, serving on panels, meeting with us at NSF workshops or at other scientific meetings, serving as rotating program directors, continuing to do outstanding research and broader impacts activities, and communicating the results of those efforts to the broader community.

As always, MCB welcomes your questions and input on how we can better serve the scientific community. You should always feel free to give us feedback or reach out to a program director with questions.

 

Best wishes,

 

Dr. Theresa Good

Acting Division Director

FAREWELL TO DR. SUSANNE VON BODMAN
img_4838

(Left to right); Dr. Charles Cunningham, Dr. Wilson Francisco, MCB Deputy Division Director Dr. Theresa Good, Dr. Steven Clouse, Dr. Richard Cyr, Dr. Susanne von Bodman, Dr. Engin Serpersu, Dr. Greg Warr, Former CBET Program Director Dr. Friedrich Srienc, and Dr. Bill Eggleston

The Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences (MCB) gave a warm send off to Dr. Susanne von Bodman, former Program Director and cluster leader in the Systems and Synthetic Biology (SSB) program. Among the many reasons she enjoyed her time at NSF are “interacting with amazingly bright and forward thinking colleagues across the agency who share a commitment to advancing molecular and cellular biosciences through cross-disciplinary collaborations; getting to know a community of remarkable investigators in the fields of Systems and Synthetic Biology; the camaraderie between colleagues at the NSF and a fun, but dedicated staff creating many opportunities for memorable social events and recreational experiences outside of work; and living in the greater DC area with its art, food, music, sports, museums, and recreation.”

As cluster leader, Dr. von Bodman provided a clear vision and direction for how best to support investigator-driven scientific proposals. She noted, “I believe that Systems and Synthetic Biology will change the field of molecular and cellular biology as we know it. Recognizing that biology is non-linear; the responses to perturbations uncertain; and the whole being greater than the sum of its parts necessitates the integration of mathematical and computational biological research.” Dr. von Bodman offered a few words of advice to young investigators; “Have a conversation with mathematicians, computation biologists, physicists, and/or chemical and bio-engineers about your projects because it may be eye-opening.”

img_4812

Back row (left to right): Dr. Stacy Kelley, Dr. Reyda Gonzalez -Nieves, Kelly Parshall, Dr. Karen Cone, Ann Larrow, Philip Helig, and Alexis Patullo. Front row (left to right): Valerie Maizel, Megan Lewis, Dr. Susanne von Bodman, and David Barley

After her years of service to the NSF, Dr. von Bodman is most looking forward to golfing, biking, hiking, and traveling; spending time with her four wonderful grandchildren; reading books she has never finished; and continuing the renovations on her cabin in West Virginia. Dr. von Bodman also plans on “following the science we funded, and learning about the next exciting scientific frontiers.” Lastly, in her words, “I wish to take this opportunity to thank all of you within and outside the National Science Foundation who made my experiences in academia and as a Program Director at the NSF most enjoyable and rewarding. It was a privilege to serve and get to know this community of talented researchers and educators. I particularly valued your service as reviewers and panelists; it is ultimately you who drive the science forward! The very best wishes – Susanne (Susi)”

All of us at MCB thank Dr. Susanne von Bodman for her many years of dedicated service as a Program Director and cluster leader. We will miss Susi’s outspoken advocacy and passion for the science and investigators she supported. We wish her lots of enjoyment in this new chapter.

A few words by Dr. Parag Chitnis, Former MCB Division Director:

“At NSF, Program Directors can make major impacts on the directions of science. In the 1980s, DeLill Nasser’s bold and substantive support of Arabidopsis as a model system revolutionized plant biology. In the 1990s, Kamal Shukla catalyzed the field of computational molecular biophysics. Around 2007, Dr. Greg Warr proposed realignment of programs within MCB, leading to the creation of a Networks and Regulation cluster, when it became clear that projects using network analysis were increasing in signal transduction, cell biology, metabolism and genetic regulation. Dr. Susanne von Bodman, an ardent proponent of systems approaches and synthetic biology, served as a Program Director in this cluster. The cluster was ultimately renamed Systems and Synthetic Biology (SSB) due to Dr. von Bodman’s leadership fostering these fields in the MCB portfolio. Her leadership in ERA-SynBio was also responsible for many rewarding partnerships with EU funding agencies. MCB had strongly favored interdisciplinary research including areas at the interface with engineering (e.g. metabolic engineering and quantitative systems biotechnology). However, Dr. von Bodman, in collaboration with Dr. Theresa Good, strengthened interactions with engineering far beyond what was historically done. Joint panels and co-funding led to many productive discussions and exciting opportunities for supporting truly interdisciplinary research.

Around 2010, Susanne von Bodman fostered synthetic biology as a major tool to decipher the molecular rules of life. Like DeLill and Kamal, Susanne von Bodman has been an unapologetic proponent of excellence in science and an ardent supporter of young investigators. Like them, she emphasized projects with bold approaches and transformative impacts, often ignoring ‘other factors’ and overly bureaucratic policies. She catalyzed science frontiers in systems and synthetic biology and built strong connections to leverage science investments. She recruited top notch panelists and depended on their advice to understand the frontiers in systems and synthetic biology. She identified CAREER awardees with great potential to be leaders in systems and synthetic biology, many of whom have now made prominent contributions to the progress in these fields. Her impacts on the science supported by MCB has been phenomenal and will last long after her retirement.”

MCB AT YOUR MEETING: COMPUTATIONAL ADVANCES IN MICROBIOME RESEARCH WORKSHOP

Program Directors in MCB regularly attend scientific meetings and workshops in an effort to garner input from the community, spread the word about funding opportunities, recruit panelists, and encourage submissions to our division. Last July, Dr. Pamela Morris and Dr. Susanne von Bodman, Program Directors for Systems and Synthetic Biology (SSB) cluster traveled to Knoxville, Tennessee for the Computational Advances in Microbiome Research (CAMR) Workshop hosted by the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS). NIMBioS is an NSF-supported institute that seeks to strengthen interdisciplinary efforts across mathematics and biology fields.

The CAMR workshop focused on identifying state-of-the-art computational approaches and integrating novel bioinformatics techniques from numerous areas of microbiome research. Attendees represented research in the human, soil, plant, and marine microbiomes (just to name a few!). The workshop was co-chaired by Drs. Curtis Huttenhower (Harvard University) and Jill Banfield (University of California-Berkeley) and brought together top leaders in the microbiome community and computational fields to discuss the present state of the science, current techniques across fields, current gaps in capability, and future directions. Dr. Morris was the Program Director managing the NIMBioS supplement that funded the CAMR workshop. The workshop was well attended, with various federal agencies (NIFA/USDA, NIH) and national laboratories (Joint Genome Institute/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory), participating either in-person or virtually.

Dr. Morris and Dr. von Bodman felt this workshop was a unique opportunity to showcase research/training opportunities in MCB with the goal of inspiring scientists to integrate strong and novel computational approaches into their research. They both interacted with prospective PIs, University of Tennessee faculty, postdocs, and graduate students about opportunities at NSF. The eight presentations at the workshop have been archived and can be viewed online. After the workshop concluded, Dr. Matthew D. Kane, Program Director for the Ecosystem Science Cluster in the Division of Environmental Biology gave a talk on the breadth of opportunities at NSF available to researchers. Events like this provides a perfect setting to encourage new collaborations, cultivate new ideas, and move the exciting field of microbiome science forward.