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

在不断变化的气候中保持农业生产力，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大于约100纳米的材料，其小到足以有效地将药剂携带到植物中，因此是一类有吸引力的材料，可以将它们传递到作物中的精确位置。纳米材料已经被设计成在其他领域（如医学）中发挥类似的“精确输送”作用。利用从纳米医学中吸取的经验教训，为农业创造新的社会责任工具，需要多个学科之间以及这些学科中的不同群体（研究，工业和政府）之间的讨论。因此，计划于2022年9月22日至23日在匹兹堡举行的这次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、土壤科学家、社会科学家等，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的交叉授粉来开发，（2）概念化新的科学方法来实现这些目标，以及（3）创建成功开发和采用技术的路线图和里程碑。该研讨会将招募一批有才华的初级教师，博士后和学生，从他们的新鲜观点中受益，并将他们与美国的潜在合作者和导师联系起来。组织者将准备一份报告和一份同行评审的开放式“前沿评论”出版物，突出纳米技术促进农业可持续发展的主要障碍和机会。在卡内基梅隆大学举行的为期一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，以想象在工厂中精确输送活性剂的非传统方法。该研讨会将利用来自多个学科的纳米技术进步，发现和模拟植物中纳米级相互作用的基本规则，并开发新的和社会认可的纳米级研究和工程工具，使农业更高效，更有弹性和可持续性，并推进基于植物的生物制造方法。该研讨会将允许来自纳米科学/工程和农业不同领域的交叉点的研究人员讨论，除其他主题外：通过合成或生物衍生的递送载体有针对性地递送营养素，遗传物质，治疗剂和营养保健品的新方法由高度选择性的生物识别分子指导;纳米材料的发展，响应在植物条件的pH值，温度，氧化还原状态，和信号生物分子;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品和生物分子的高度精确和受控递送。与会者将1）创建最具变革性的纳米技术方法的优先列表，以提供植物内活性剂的有效和精确递送，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，以克服实现目标的科学或社会障碍。名义组技术的专家将组织讨论，以最大限度地提高生产力和学科之间的串扰。与研讨会相关的教育活动包括：（1）主旨发言人的演讲，重点介绍了利用植物纳米生物技术/传感、免疫学和靶向药物输送、双分子工程、组学、植物基因工程、分析化学和计算化学/生物学以及精准农业实现可持续性的农业创新需求的最新知识;（2）邀请10到15名高年级博士生和年轻科学家参加，这里定义为非终身教职员工或距离博士学位不到六年的科学家。建成该研讨会旨在促进讨论和传播有关纳米技术潜力的信息，以实现植物中活性剂的精确递送。这将通过改善农用化学品的供应，使植物对气候变化更具适应力，并改善植物生物制造来改变农业可持续发展的轨迹。该奖项反映了NSF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。

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.