What the FY2027 request buys
Verbatim from the R-2A exhibit for project WP-02 of PE 0602024E. This is the budget justification's own description of work that has not happened yet — the one thing no other level of the budget carries.
- Generate molecular components that respond to distinct wavelengths of light. - Generate molecular components capable of producing nucleic acid sequences in response to light. - Initiate the development of a mechanism capable of detecting errors in a nucleotide sequence. - Initiate the integration of the developed components to generate a molecular machine capable of responding to light to produce a short nucleic acid sequence. - Begin integration of the error detection mechanism into the molecular machine. - Evaluate the molecular machine for accuracy and efficiency to produce short nucleotide products. - Initiate transition of the molecular machine and error detection mechanism into a living cell. - Optimize the molecular machine to increase the length of nucleic acid sequence produced. - Optimize the molecular machine to enhance the rate of production of nucleic acid sequences.
The FY 2027 funding increase reflects the expansion of efforts from concept initiation and tool design to molecular machine integration and validation.
FY2026: the year under way
Prior-year accomplishments and current-year plans from the same exhibit. Context for the FY2027 plan, not a series — an activity partitions its project exactly in the request year, but can under-cover it in earlier years.
- Initiate development of a light-controlled molecular machine capable of producing a nucleic acid sequence. - Establish biosecurity and regulatory policy working groups as well as an independent commercialization and consulting group to ensure responsible development, regulation, and commercialization. - Identify key technical risks and outline mitigation strategies for a functional molecular machine. - Engage with the broader scientific community to communicate scientific knowledge and establish collaborative technical partnerships.
Three years, and no five-year plan
An R-2A activity publishes the prior year, the current year and the budget year. The FYDP outyears exist at project and program-element level and are deliberately absent here rather than inferred. Estimate types are colored and never summed into one figure.
| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | Enacted | 15.6 |
| FY2027 | Request | 28.0 |
This activity is 15% of project WP-02's FY2027 request and 7.7% of PE 0602024E's. In the request year the activities under a project sum to it exactly; in the current year they under-cover it in about 9% of cases, so an activity's delta can legitimately exceed its parent's and the two must not be compared row to row.
14 activities in project WP-02
Every R-2A line of this project, largest FY2027 request first. Linked where the activity has enough of its own narrative to carry a page; the rest are shown in full on the project page.