How does HFSP see the participation of engineers and bioengineers in applications?

A.In 2006 and 2007 there was a noticeable increase in the number of bioengineers participating in LoIs. However few of these reached the Selection Committee because they proposed essentially applied projects. Engineers and bioengineers are encouraged to participate but the project itself must not be an applied project (see above we received many applications in 2007 to develop surgical prostheses), rather their skills should be applied to a problem in fundamental biology. We also received enquiries from investigators in 'jointventure' institutions that do not have 'not-for-profit' status because they receive both public and private funding. If institutional accounting is on a 'project by project' basis and there is no private support for this area of research, HFSP will consider financing such partners.