Collaborative Research: SuSChEM: Root-Targeted Delivery of Encapsulated Agrochemicals using Natural Microbial Carriers

CBET - 1605624; 1605816 PI：Shor，Leslie; Prud'homme，Robert这个合作项目的目标是开发一种方法，将除草剂、杀真菌剂和杀线虫剂等化合物直接输送到植物的根尖，在那里它们对植物的生长和保存最有利。 为了实现靶向递送，感兴趣的化合物将被封装在纳米颗粒中。 原生生物是土壤中大量存在的单细胞微生物，可以自发地吞噬纳米颗粒并携带它们穿过土壤。 原生生物被化学吸引向生长植物的根尖，这意味着包封的化合物可以优先递送到根尖，而不是分散在整个土壤中。 该项目将开发与原生生物吸收和运输兼容的纳米封装技术。 这项研究的好处将是提高效率，降低成本，减少农业中化学品使用的影响，所有这些都可以增加作物产量，促进农业企业的可持续性。 不同学术水平的学生将参与该项目，该项目将作为康涅狄格州高中教师参与早期大学体验计划的外展活动平台。闪光纳米沉淀和逆闪光纳米沉淀将用于生物相容性颗粒的高效，经济和可规模化生产。将开发荧光农用化学品类似物以评估包封、吸收和运输。类似物将在广泛的疏水性范围内开发，这将有助于确定可行性和商业化潜力的规则。 将从农业土壤中收集成囊的非致病性土壤原生生物，并筛选其有效吸收纳米封装农用化学品并通过土壤样介质运输。将开发一种模拟土壤的物理微观结构和植物根部直接环境中的化学梯度的微流体运输测定。微流控分析将能够快速筛选和收集预测建模所需的基本摄取和运输参数。最后，将开发一个基于代理的孔隙规模的运输模型，以表征在现场规模实施这项技术的潜在好处。

CBET - 1605624; 1605816PI: Shor, Leslie; Prud'homme, RobertThe goal of this collaborative project is to develop a method to deliver chemical compounds such as herbicides, fungicides, and nematicides directly to the root tips of plants where they can be most benefit to the growth and preservation of the plant. To accomplish targeted delivery, the compounds of interest will be encapsulated in nanoparticles. Protists, which are single-cell microbes that are abundant in soil, can spontaneously engulf nanoparticles and carry them through soil. Protists are chemically attracted toward the root tips of growing plants, which means that the encapsulated compounds can be preferentially delivered to the root tips rather than being dispersed throughout all of the soil. The project will develop nanoencapsulation technology that is compatible with protist uptake and transport. The benefits of the research will be increased efficiency, reduced costs and reduced impact of chemical use in agriculture, all of which can increase crop production and promote sustainability of the farming enterprise. Students at various academic levels will participate in the project, and the project will be used as a platform for outreach activities for Connecticut high school teachers participating in the Early College Experience program.Flash nanoprecipitation and inverse flash nanoprecipitation will be used for efficient, economic and scalable production of biocompatible particles. Fluorescent agrochemical analogs will be developed to assess encapsulation, uptake, and transport. Analogs will be developed across a wide range of hydrophobicity, which will help identify rules for feasibility and commercialization potential. Cyst-forming, non-pathogenic soil protists will be collected from agricultural soils and screened for efficient uptake of nanoencapsulated agrochemicals and transport through soil-like media. A microfluidic transport assay will be developed that emulates the physical microstructure of soil and the chemical gradients found in the immediate environment of plant roots. The microfluidic assay will enable rapid screening and collection of fundamental uptake and transport parameters needed for predictive modelling. Finally, an agent-based pore-scale transport model will be developed to characterize potential benefits of implementing this technology at the field scale.