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

为了可持续地满足未来的粮食需求，需要在不断变化的气候中保持农业生产力，同时将农业活动对环境的影响降至最低。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。纳米材料的定义是尺寸不超过100纳米的材料，它足够小，可以有效地将试剂运送到植物中，因此是一类有吸引力的材料，可以将它们运送到农作物的精确位置。纳米材料已经被设计成在医学等其他领域发挥类似的“精确传递”作用。利用从纳米医学学到的经验教训，为农业创造新的对社会负责的工具，需要多个学科之间以及这些学科(研究、工业和政府)不同群体之间的讨论。因此，计划于2022年9月22日至23日在匹兹堡举行的研讨会将汇集农业工程师、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。来自这些不同领域的大约50-100名研究人员将会面，以(1)创建一份最具变革性的纳米技术方法的优先列表，这些方法可以通过对每个学科的最新科学发现进行交叉授粉来开发，(2)构思实现这些目标的新的科学方法，以及(3)创建成功开发和采用这些技术的路线图和里程碑。研讨会将招募一批有才华的初级教师、博士后和学生，以从他们的新观点中受益，并将他们与美国的潜在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，重点介绍纳米技术促进农业可持续发展的关键障碍和机会。卡内基梅隆大学为期两天的研讨会将汇聚来自不同学科、联邦机构和行业的人员、知识、方法和创新，以想象在植物中精确传递活性物质的非传统方法。研讨会将利用来自多个学科的纳米技术进步来发现和模拟植物中纳米级相互作用的潜在规则，并开发新的和社会接受的纳米级研究和工程工具，以使农业更高效、更具弹性和可持续，并促进以植物为基础的生物制造方法。研讨会将允许来自纳米科学/工程和农业不同领域的研究人员讨论除其他主题外：通过高选择性生物识别分子引导的合成或生物衍生递送载体靶向递送营养、遗传物质、治疗和营养食品的新方法；响应植物条件的纳米材料的开发；以及基于机器学习的纳米材料化学和物理特性的设计，这可以导致在植物中高精度和可控制地递送化学品和生物分子。与会者将1)创建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工厂内活性物质输送；2)确定实现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)创建路线图和里程碑，以克服实现这些目标的科学或社会障碍。名义分组技术的专家将组织讨论，以最大限度地提高生产率和学科间的串扰。与研讨会相关的教育活动包括：(1)主旨演讲者的演讲，重点介绍利用植物纳米生物技术/传感、免疫学和定向药物输送、双分子工程、组学、植物基因工程、分析化学、计算化学/生物学和精确农业在农业创新方面的最新知识；以及(2)邀请10至15名高级博士生和青年科学家参加，他们在这里被定义为完成博士学位不到六年的未终身教职的教师或科学家。这次研讨会的目的是促进关于纳米技术在植物中精确输送活性物质的潜力的讨论和传播信息。这将通过改善农用化学品的投放，使植物对气候变化更具弹性，并改善植物生物制造，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。这一奖项反映了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。

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.