权益分类	功能权益	普通用户	{{item.name}}会员
{{category.name}}	{{benefitItem.name}}

CAREER: Optical Nanosensors to Monitor Linked Metabolism in Microbial Consortia

职业：光学纳米传感器监测微生物群落的相关代谢

基本信息

批准号：
1944204
负责人：
Kevin Cash
金额：
$ 52.3万
依托单位：
Colorado School of Mines
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Continuing Grant
财政年份：
2020
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2020-05-01 至 2025-04-30
项目状态：
未结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1944204&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
CAREER Optical Nanosensors Monitor Linked

项目摘要

Microbial communities are all around us - in soil, your body, and every local pond - breaking down and recycling nutrients. The interdependence of these communities has been known for over a century, but the bulk of laboratory microbiology is done on one species in isolation. Determining how nutrients flow between these different species is essential to better predict how microbial communities can process heavy metal pollution, effect bioremediation, or adapt to new ecological settings. This project will develop the sensing tools to adequately measure interrelated metabolism in a spatially and temporally defined manner and develop smaller (capillary-based) model systems able to better mimic the real-world settings seen in the environment while remaining suitable for use in the lab. Educational outreach includes partnering with the local Head Start preschool to expose disadvantaged preschoolers (including minorities, disabled, and the homeless) and their siblings to STEM and sensing, and working with the county high school system to place research interns into the lab for this project to prepare them for a future career in scientific research and engineering. The goal of this CAREER award is to develop and apply optical nanosensors to monitor metabolic markers throughout striated environmental microbial communities in capillary culture systems. This will address the question of how well these capillary approaches are able to recapitulate the striated consortia seen in larger scale systems. The central hypothesis is that capillary based communities will establish similar gradients in nutrients (oxygen, iron, sulfate, lactate) to larger column-based systems and show faster establishment. Three specific aims build toward this goal: 1: Optimize persistent luminescence "glow" nanosensors for quantification of sulfate and iron. 2: Optimize nanosensors for quantification of lactate in aerobic and anaerobic environments. 3: Determine how well capillary based microbial systems mimic the nutrient gradients of larger column-based approaches. The expected outcomes of this CAREER award include a new nanosensor technology, an expansion of the range of analytes measurable (iron, sulfate, lactate), and the development of a relationship between small and large model systems for studying microbial consortia. These outcomes will advance the field of sensors through the use of persistent luminescence for background reduction in nanosensors and new sensors for spatiotemporal monitoring of these key analytes. This project will quantify how well capillary based microbial culture approaches recapitulate the complicated environment established in larger columnbased systems. This advance is made possible with these new tools to monitor inter-species metabolism. The capillary based microbial communities and corresponding nanosensors can monitor transport dynamics in a range of fields including heavy metal pollution, bioremediation, and microbial ecology (especially in attempts to understand microheterogeneity). The tools and techniques developed in this research can benefit scientific communities researching any three-dimensional biological system. Related applications where this work can make a large impact include medical models (e.g. tumor organoids, organ-on-a-chip systems, biofilms, and 3D tissue scaffolds), other environmental systems (e.g. microbial mats), and industrial systems (e.g. biotherapeutic production, wastewater treatment). The ability to spatiotemporally monitor metabolism with nanosensors will enable a wide range of advances in all of these complex metabolically linked systems. This work will also be integrated to a first year Studio Biology course which is taught in an immersive laboratory setting rather than in a classroom. In this module, students will explore microbial community metabolism, and apply nanosensors in scientific investigation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

微生物群落无处不在--在土壤、你的身体和每个当地的池塘里--分解和回收养分。这些群落之间的相互依赖早在一个多世纪前就已为人所知，但大部分实验室微生物学都是孤立地在一个物种上完成的。确定营养物质在这些不同物种之间的流动方式对于更好地预测微生物群落如何处理重金属污染、实施生物修复或适应新的生态环境至关重要。该项目将开发传感工具，以空间和时间定义的方式充分测量相互关联的新陈代谢，并开发更小的(基于毛细管的)模型系统，能够更好地模拟环境中看到的真实世界环境，同时仍适合在实验室使用。教育外展活动包括与当地Head Start幼儿园合作，让弱势学龄前儿童(包括少数民族、残疾人和无家可归者)及其兄弟姐妹接触STEM和传感，并与县高中系统合作，将研究实习生安排到该项目的实验室，为他们未来的科学研究和工程生涯做好准备。这一职业奖项的目标是开发和应用光学纳米传感器来监测毛细管培养系统中横纹环境微生物群落中的代谢标记物。这将解决这样一个问题，即这些毛细管方法在多大程度上能够概括在更大规模的系统中看到的条纹联合体。中心假设是，基于毛细管的群落将建立与更大的柱基系统类似的营养物质(氧、铁、硫酸盐、乳酸)的梯度，并且表现出更快的建立。为实现这一目标，有三个具体目标：1：优化用于硫酸盐和铁定量的持续发光“发光”纳米传感器。2：优化纳米传感器，用于在好氧和厌氧环境中定量测定乳酸。3：确定基于毛细管的微生物系统模拟较大柱基方法的营养梯度的程度。这一职业奖项的预期成果包括新的纳米传感器技术，扩大可测量的分析物(铁、硫酸盐、乳酸)的范围，以及发展用于研究微生物协会的小型和大型模型系统之间的关系。这些成果将通过使用持续发光来减少纳米传感器的背景，以及使用新的传感器来对这些关键分析物进行时空监测，从而推动传感器领域的发展。该项目将量化毛细管微生物培养方法对建立在较大柱基系统中的复杂环境的概括程度。这些监测物种间新陈代谢的新工具使这一进展成为可能。基于毛细管的微生物群落和相应的纳米传感器可以监测包括重金属污染、生物修复和微生物生态在内的一系列领域的传输动力学(特别是在试图了解微观异质性方面)。这项研究中开发的工具和技术可以帮助研究任何三维生物系统的科学界。这项工作可以产生重大影响的相关应用包括医学模型(例如，肿瘤有机物、单芯片器官系统、生物膜和3D组织支架)、其他环境系统(例如，微生物垫)和工业系统(例如，生物治疗生产、废水处理)。利用纳米传感器时空监测新陈代谢的能力将使所有这些复杂的新陈代谢相关系统取得广泛的进展。这项工作还将被整合到一年级的工作室生物学课程中，该课程在身临其境的实验室环境中授课，而不是在课堂上。在本单元中，学生将探索微生物群落的新陈代谢，并将纳米传感器应用于科学研究。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。