Workshop to Identify Convergent Nanotechnology Approaches for Precision Delivery of Active Agents in Plants

确定在植物中精确递送活性剂的融合纳米技术方法的研讨会

• 批准号: 2222373
• 负责人: Gregory Lowry
• 金额: $ 5.9万
• 依托单位: Carnegie-Mellon University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-08-01 至 2024-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2222373&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Workshop; Identify; Convergent; Nanotechnology; Approaches

Maintaining agricultural productivity in a changing climate, while also minimizing the impact of agricultural activity on the environment, is needed to sustainably meet future food demands. To achieve these goals, new tools are needed to improve the efficiency of agricultural inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides, and to protect crops from extreme climate events such as heat or drought. Nanomaterials, defined as materials with no dimension larger than about 100 nanometers, are small enough to efficiently carry agents into plants, and are therefore an attractive class of materials to deliver them to precise locations in crops. Nanomaterials have been engineered to fulfill similar ‘precision delivery’ roles in other fields such as medicine. Leveraging the lessons learned from nanomedicine to create new socially responsible tools for agriculture requires discussions between multiple disciplines and between different groups in those disciplines (research, industry, and government). Therefore, this workshop planned for September 22-23, 2022 in Pittsburgh will bring together agricultural engineers, precision medicine researchers, environmental scientists, plant pathologists and physiologists, precision agriculture specialists, biological engineers, soil scientists, social scientists, and others to discuss the challenges and opportunities to create precision delivery tools for agriculture. About 50-100 investigators from the intersection of these different fields will meet to (1) create a prioritized list of the most transformative nanotechnology approaches that could be developed through cross-pollination of recent scientific discoveries in each discipline, (2) conceptualize new scientific approaches to meet these goals, and (3) create a roadmap and milestones to successful development and adoption of the technologies. The workshop will recruit a diverse group of talented junior faculty, postdocs, and students to benefit from their fresh perspectives and to connect them with potential collaborators and mentors in the U.S. After the workshop, the organizers will prepare a report and a peer-reviewed open-access “Frontiers Review” publication highlighting the key barriers and opportunities for nanotechnology to promote sustainability in agriculture.A 2-day workshop at Carnegie Mellon University will converge people, knowledge, approaches, and innovations from disparate disciplines, federal agencies, and industry to imagine non-traditional approaches for precision delivery of active agents in plants. The workshop will leverage nanotechnology advances from multiple disciplines to discover and model underlying rules of nanoscale interactions in plants and develop novel and socially accepted nanoscale research and engineering tools for making agriculture more efficient, resilient, and sustainable, and to advance plant-based biomanufacturing methods. The workshop will allow investigators from the intersection of diverse areas of nanoscience/engineering and agriculture to discuss, among other topics: novel approaches for targeted delivery of nutrients, genetic material, therapeutics, and nutraceuticals through synthetic or biology-derived delivery vectors guided by highly selective bio-recognition molecules; the development of nanomaterials that respond to in plantae conditions of pH, temperature, redox state, and signaling biomolecules; and machine learning-based design of nanomaterial chemical and physical properties which can lead to highly precise and controlled delivery of chemicals and biomolecules in plants. Attendees will 1) create a prioritized list of the most transformative nanotechnology approaches for providing efficient and precision delivery of active agents inside plants, 2) identify novel materials and scientific approaches needed to meet these goals as well as the roadblocks to realizing them, and 3) create a roadmap and milestones for overcoming the scientific or social barriers to achieving the goals. Experts in nominal group technique will structure discussions to maximize productivity and crosstalk among disciplines. Educational activities associated with the workshop include: (1) presentations from keynote speakers highlighting state-of-the-art knowledge on the needs for innovation in agriculture for sustainability using plant nanobiotechnology/sensing, immunology and targeted drug delivery, bimolecular engineering, omics, plant genetic engineering, analytical chemistry, and computational chemistry/biology, and precision agriculture; and (2) inviting participation of 10 to 15 senior PhD students and young scientists, defined here as either untenured faculty or scientists fewer than six years removed from their Ph.D. completion. This workshop is aimed at promoting discussions and disseminating information about the potential of nanotechnology to enable precision delivery of active agents in plants. This will shift the trajectory of agriculture sustainability by improving agrochemical delivery, making plants more resilient to climate change, and improve plant biomanufacturing. This will enable future sustainable agricultural practices.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.

在气候变化的情况下保持农业生产力，同时尽量减少农业活动对环境的影响，是可持续地满足未来粮食需求的必要条件。为了实现这些目标，需要新的工具来提高化肥和农药等农业投入物的效率，并保护作物免受高温或干旱等极端气候事件的影响。纳米材料被定义为尺寸不超过100纳米的材料，它们足够小，可以有效地将药物携带到植物中，因此是一种有吸引力的材料，可以将药物运送到作物的精确位置。纳米材料已经被设计成在医学等其他领域发挥类似的“精确输送”作用。利用从纳米医学中吸取的经验教训为农业创造新的对社会负责的工具，需要在多个学科之间以及这些学科中的不同团体（研究、工业和政府）之间进行讨论。因此，该研讨会计划于2022年9月22日至23日在匹兹堡举行，将汇集农业工程师、精准医学研究人员、环境科学家、植物病理学家和生理学家、精准农业专家、生物工程师、土壤科学家、社会科学家和其他人，讨论为农业创造精准交付工具的挑战和机遇。来自这些不同领域交叉点的大约50-100名研究人员将会面，以(1)创建最具变革性的纳米技术方法的优先列表，这些方法可以通过每个学科的最新科学发现进行交叉授粉来开发；(2)概念化新的科学方法来实现这些目标；(3)为成功开发和采用这些技术创建路线图和里程碑。研讨会将招募一群有才华的年轻教师、博士后和学生，从他们的新观点中受益，并将他们与美国潜在的合作者和导师联系起来。研讨会结束后，组织者将准备一份报告和一份同行评议的开放获取的《前沿评论》出版物，强调纳米技术促进农业可持续发展的关键障碍和机会。在卡内基梅隆大学举行的为期两天的研讨会将汇集来自不同学科、联邦机构和行业的人员、知识、方法和创新，设想在植物中精确递送活性剂的非传统方法。研讨会将利用来自多个学科的纳米技术进展，发现和模拟植物中纳米级相互作用的潜在规则，开发新的和社会接受的纳米级研究和工程工具，使农业更有效、更有弹性和可持续性，并推进基于植物的生物制造方法。研讨会将允许来自纳米科学/工程和农业等不同领域交叉的研究人员讨论其他主题：通过高选择性生物识别分子引导的合成或生物衍生的递送载体，靶向递送营养物质、遗传物质、疗法和营养药品的新方法；纳米材料的发展，响应在植物的pH，温度，氧化还原状态和信号生物分子的条件；以及基于机器学习的纳米材料化学和物理特性设计，这可以导致植物中化学物质和生物分子的高度精确和可控的传递。与会者将1)创建一个最具变革性的纳米技术方法的优先列表，以提供高效和精确的植物内活性剂的输送；2)确定满足这些目标所需的新材料和科学方法以及实现这些目标的障碍；3)创建一个路线图和里程碑，以克服实现目标的科学或社会障碍。名义小组技术的专家将组织讨论，以最大限度地提高各学科之间的生产力和相互交流。与研讨会相关的教育活动包括：(1)主讲人的演讲，重点介绍利用植物纳米生物技术/传感、免疫学和靶向药物输送、生物分子工程、组学、植物基因工程、分析化学、计算化学/生物学和精准农业在农业可持续发展创新方面的最新知识；(2)邀请10至15名高级博士生和年轻科学家参加，这里的定义是未终身教职员工或距离博士学位完成不到6年的科学家。本次研讨会的目的是促进讨论和传播纳米技术在植物中精确递送活性剂方面的潜力。这将通过改善农用化学品的输送、提高植物对气候变化的适应能力和改善植物生物制造来改变农业可持续发展的轨迹。这将使未来的可持续农业实践成为可能。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。