Program Snapshot
The Common Fund's Building Blocks, Biological Pathways, and Networks program is designed to develop new technologies for studying molecular events that comprise biological pathways and networks in cells in order to catalyze studies of normal and disease-related processes. The program consists of three initiatives:
Program Highlights
Researchers make SWEET discovery about how sugar moves through plants
Having nutrients move throughout the body is as important for plants as it is for animals. In the January 13, 2012 issue of Science, a group led by Dr. Wolf Frommer of the Carnegie Institution, funded in part by the Common Fund’s Building Blocks, Biological Pathways and Networks program, has identified specific proteins within the SWEET family that have a major contribution to the movement of sugar from leaves to other important areas of plants. These newly reported findings have major implications for both plants and humans.
Currently Funded National Technology Centers