Launch of the First ATLASea PEPR Call for Proposals: Biosynthetic Pathways of Molecules of Interest
The first call for proposals of the ATLASea program has just been published on the ANR website!
Call Objective:
The aim of this call is to fund projects that leverage the genetic information of marine organisms to identify and study biosynthetic pathways for molecules of interest in various sectors such as agronomy and medicine.
Key Information:
Total funding available: €3.6 million (up to €1.2M for Axis 1 and €2.4M for Axis 2)
Maximum project duration: 4 years
Eligibility: French higher education and research institutions. Partnerships with companies or foreign institutions are possible (but will not be funded)
The call is structured around two complementary axes:
Axis 1: Functional annotation of genes involved in biosynthetic pathways. The goal is to harness recent advances in bioinformatics and artificial intelligence to predict the functions of marine genes, nearly half of which currently lack known homologs.
Axis 2: Experimental validation of marine metabolic pathways leading to the synthesis of molecules of interest.
Call Procedure:
- Step 1 (mandatory): Letter of intent (2 pages) describing the contributions of the applying team for one of the two axes. Deadline: September 30, 2025
- Selection of letters of intent
- Step 2: Formation of two consortia (one per axis) invited to submit a full project proposal
- Evaluation by an international expert committee (coordinated by the ANR)
- Contractualization
Link to the full call text on the ANR website: https://anr.fr/PEPR-ATLASea-AAP-2025