I-Corps: Silver Nanoparticles for Elimination of Fungal Toxins

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发一种安全的方法来减少食品中的黄曲霉毒素污染。黄曲霉毒素污染对人畜健康构成威胁。世界卫生组织估计，每年世界上25%或更多的农作物被黄曲霉毒素污染所破坏。拟议的技术将支持粮食安全，帮助减少全球饥饿，并通过提供更多的安全食品来提高生活质量。这项技术将使农作物不会被浪费，从而带来经济效益。此外，这种环境友好的方法有可能减少或取代杀菌剂和杀虫剂的使用，进一步有利于环境。这个i-Corps项目基于纳米技术的开发，使用非常低浓度的人造纳米银(NPs)，已被证明可以显著减少真菌黄曲霉毒素的生物合成和排泄。研究表明，毒素产生的减少不是由于银离子，而是由于暴露于NP后真菌的转录组水平的变化，这种变化是基于活性氧物种的减少产生的。纳米真菌的相互作用也可以通过优化纳米粒子的物理化学性质来调节，并且纳米粒子的大小和包覆层都被证明具有显著的影响。这一规定可能允许银纳米粒子抑制导致谷物、水果和蔬菜腐败的真菌产生黄曲霉毒素。这一裁决反映了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。

The broader impact /commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development a safe way to reduce aflatoxin contamination in food. Aflatoxin contamination is a risk to human and livestock health. The World Health Organization estimates that 25 percent or more of the world’s crops are destroyed by aflatoxin contamination annually. The proposed technology would support food security, help to reduce hunger worldwide, and improve quality of life by providing increased quantities of safe food. The technology would allow for crops to not be wasted, enabling economic benefits. In addition, this environmentally friendly method has the potential to reduce or replace fungicide and pesticide use, further benefitting the environment.This I-Corps project is based on the development of nanotechnology that has been shown to significantly reduce fungal aflatoxin biosynthesis and excretion, using very low concentrations of manufactured silver nanoparticles (NPs). Research has shown that the reduced toxin production is not due to the silver ion but rather by transcriptome-level changes in the fungi based on reduced production of reactive oxygen species after exposure to the NP. Nano-fungal interactions also may be regulated based on the optimization of NP physico-chemical properties, and both size and coating of the NPs have been shown to have a significant effect. This regulation may allow for silver NPs to inhibit aflatoxin production by fungi responsible for grain, fruit and vegetable spoilage.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.