FEW NSF Workshop: Closing the Human Phosphorus Cycle

化学系的大分子、超分子和纳米化学计划将于2015年6月8日至9日在弗吉尼亚州阿灵顿举办这场名为“少数国家科学基金会研讨会：关闭人类磷循环”的研讨会。磷是一种对所有生命都必不可少的元素。人体中的磷主要集中在骨骼和牙齿以及基本的生物分子中，包括DNA(遗传物质)、磷脂(细胞膜的主要成分)和ATP(细胞内的能量传输)。为了制造和维护这些材料，人类每天必须摄入至少0.7克磷。重要的是，磷对农作物和牲畜也是必不可少的，因此大量的磷被动员起来，以提高土壤肥力。然而，目前对磷矿储量的估计存在很大的不确定性。具有讽刺意味的是，尽管近年来人们对磷短缺的担忧与日俱增，但人们对人类排泄物和农场衍生肥料积累的担忧也在增加，这些肥料刺激藻类的生长，包括污染我们饮用水供应的有毒形式。马修·普拉茨教授(夏威夷大学希洛分校)和詹姆斯·J·埃尔瑟教授(亚利桑那州立大学)共同组织了一次研讨会，以推进可扩展的科学和工程，其中将定义必须推进的基础科学，以促进在食品生产中更有效地利用磷，以及在食品系统的不同点上经济可行的磷回收和再循环。这次研讨会的成功，以及如此定义的研究议程的资助和实施的好处是巨大的：本世纪末预计将居住在地球上的90-100亿人的化肥粮食安全，以及保护他们的水供应所需的淡水生态系统。标题研讨会的目标是促进化学家与生命、地质和社会科学家和工程师的互动和合作，并为希望探索粮食、水和能源之间关系的科学家确定跨学科的研究机会，因为它适用于结束磷循环的关键问题。研讨会的具体目标包括发展对土壤、沉积物、水系统、植物和动物中发生的、构成自然界中磷利用和处置途径的基本化学过程的跨学科理解；集思广益，讨论如何设计、合成和评估能够感应到磷离子并能够根据需要隔离和释放磷离子的新化学品和材料；以及决定利益攸关方科学学科(物理科学、地质科学、工程、生命科学和社会科学)如何在计算、实验和数据挖掘方法上进行合作，以解决研究问题。

The Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry Program of the Division of Chemistry is sponsoring this workshop entitled "FEW NSF Workshop: Closing the Human Phosphorus Cycle" to be held on June 8-9, 2015 in Arlington, Virginia. Phosphorus is an element that is essential to all life. The human body contains phosphorus concentrated largely in bones and teeth and in essential biomolecules, including DNA (genetic materials), phospholipids (a major component of cell membranes) and ATP (for energy transport in cells). To build and maintain these materials, humans must ingest at least 0.7 g of phosphorus each day. Importantly, phosphorus is also essential for crops and livestocks and thus large amounts of phosphorus have been mobilized to raise soil fertility. However, great uncertainty surrounds current estimates of phosphate rock reserves. Ironically, while concerns about phosphorus scarcity have been increasing in recent years, so have concerns about the accumulation of human waste and farm-derived fertilizer that stimulates the growth of algae, including toxic forms that contaminates our drinking water supplies. Prof. Matthew Platz (University of Hawaii at Hilo) and Prof. James J. Elser (Arizona State University) co-organize a workshop to advance scalable science and engineering that will define the underlying science that must be advanced to facilitate more efficient phosphorus use in food production, as well as economically viable recovery and recycling of phosphorus at various points in the food system. The benefits of success of this workshop, and the funding and implementation of the research agenda so defined, are enormous: fertilizer food security for the 9-10 billion people expected to inhabit the earth later this century and the protection of freshwater ecosystems necessary for their water supply.The goals of the title workshop are to facilitate the interactions and collaborations of chemists with life-, geo- and social scientists and engineers and define interdisciplinary research opportunities for scientists who wish to explore the nexus of food, water and energy as it applies to the critical issue of closing the phosphorous cycle. The specific objectives of the workshop include developing a trans-disciplinary understanding of fundamental chemical processes that transpire in soils, sediments, water systems, plants and animals and constitute the pathways of phosphorous utilization and disposal within nature; brainstorming about ways to design, synthesize and evaluate new chemicals and materials that can sense phosphate ions and that can sequester and release phosphate ions on demand; and deciding upon how the stakeholder scientific disciplines (physical sciences, geologic sciences, engineering, life sciences and social sciences) can collaborate on computational, experimental, and data mining approaches to solving research problems.