Nanoscale Interaction of Engineered Quantum Dots with Cephem Skeleton

抗生素被广泛用于治疗人类和动物的细菌感染。它们也常用于农业和水产养殖业，以预防和治疗牲畜和鱼类的细菌感染。不幸的是，抗生素的广泛使用导致了环境中耐抗生素细菌的增加。耐抗生素细菌可以通过径流、土壤侵蚀和其他方式从农场和水产养殖设施传播到周围环境。它们对人类健康有严重的影响，因为耐抗生素细菌会引起难以用现有抗生素治疗的感染。寻找新的或改进的方法来减少水体和一般环境中抗生素的出现是势在必行的。在纳米尺度上生产的材料由于其不寻常和可调的特性而成为另一种选择。量子点是一种微小的粒子，它们非常小，可以用纳米（一米的十亿分之一）来测量。它们通常用于光催化降解过程，在该过程中，光产生的物质将污染物或有害物质（即抗生素、染料等）分解成更小、更无害的成分。本课题将研究掺杂铁的硫化锌量子点与抗生素的相互作用。这些量子点将具有磁性，可以使用磁铁轻松回收。光降解衍生物将使用分离技术进行分析和鉴定。总的来说，这个研究项目的重要性在于有可能设计出处理受污染的地表水的设备。参与研究的本科生将获得宝贵的知识和经验，这些知识和经验将在地方和国家会议以及同行评审的文章中传播。抗生素在地表水中无处不在，因为它们被广泛用于人类健康、农业和食品生产。水资源中抗生素的存在带来了三个重大问题：(i)水生生物中抗生素耐药基因的出现；（ii）总体微生物多样性的减少，包括负责碳循环和初级生产力的分类群；（iii）由于长期摄入受污染的饮用水而导致人口的生殖问题和肌肉衰弱。必须找到替代方法来破坏这些伪持久性物质并避免它们在水生基质中积累。该研究项目的长期目标是创造掺杂量子点，生产具有增强能力的工程纳米结构，以产生可以破坏抗生素的活性氧。该项目的具体目标是通过实现三个目标，在晶体纳米结构中创造新的能量状态。目标一是产生具有增强光学特性和磁性质的新型纳米材料。目的二是通过液相色谱-质谱法测量工程量子点与具有头孢菌骨架的抗生素的纳米级相互作用。第三个目的是确定光激活掺杂量子点与抗生素纳米级相互作用后的衍生物。掺杂量子点的产生将为药物提供一种快速有效的光催化降解技术。此外，使用具有磁性的掺杂剂将提供这些纳米材料的快速回收和再利用，为设计处理受污染地表水的设备提供新的和迷人的科学和技术可能性。这个项目的活动将加强波多黎各庞塞大学内的研究界，有助于发展和巩固具有竞争力和创新性的研究领域。研究结果将通过同行评议出版物、跨学科会议和讲习班传播。参与该项目的本科生将获得科学知识和教育技能，以熟练地进行研究并向科学界展示他们的研究成果。此外，这些学生将获得知识和研究经验，这将为他们成功地度过本科任期以及未来在STEM领域的职业生涯提供有用的技能。该项目由CBET内的纳米级相互作用项目和促进竞争性研究的既定项目（EPSCoR）共同资助。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。

Antibiotics are widely used to treat bacterial infections in humans and animals. They are also commonly used in agriculture and aquaculture to prevent and treat bacterial infections in livestock and fish. Unfortunately, the widespread use of antibiotics has led to an increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the environment. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria can spread from farms and aquaculture facilities to the surrounding environment through runoff, soil erosion, and other means. They have serious implications for human health, as antibiotic-resistant bacteria can cause infections that are difficult to treat with existing antibiotics. It is imperative to find new or improved ways to minimize the occurrence of antibiotics in water bodies and in the environment in general. Materials produced at the nanoscale are an alternative due to their unusual and tunable properties. Quantum dots are tiny particles that are so small they are measured in nanometers (billionths of a meter). They are often used in a process called photocatalytic degradation where light produces species that break pollutants or harmful substances (i.e., antibiotics, dyes, among others) into smaller, less harmful components. This research project will study the interaction of iron-doped zinc sulfide quantum dots with antibiotics. These quantum dots will have magnetic characteristics that will permit easy recovery using magnets. The photodegradation derivatives will be analyzed and identified using a separation technique. Overall, the importance of this research project lies in the potential to enable the design of devices to treat contaminated surface water. Undergraduate students involved in the research will acquire invaluable knowledge and experience that will be disseminated in local and national conferences as well as in peer-reviewed articles. Antibiotics are ubiquitous in surface water because they are broadly used in human health, agriculture, and food production. The presence of antibiotics in water resources presents three significant problems: (i) occurrence of antibiotic resistance genes in aquatic life, (ii) reduction of overall microbial diversity, including taxa responsible for carbon cycling and primary productivity, and (iii) reproductive problems and muscle weaknesses in human populations by chronic ingestion of contaminated drinking water. Alternative approaches must be found to destroy these pseudo-persistent substances and avoid their accumulation in aquatic matrices. The long-term goal of this research project is to create doped quantum dots, producing engineered nanostructures with enhanced capacity to produce reactive oxygen species which can destroy antibiotics. The specific objective of this project is to create new energetic states into crystalline nanostructures through the achievement of three aims. Aim one is to generate novel nanomaterials with enhanced optical properties and magnetic characteristics. Aim two is to measure the nanoscale interaction of engineered quantum dots and antibiotics that have cephem skeleton, by Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry. The third Aim is to determine derivative products after nanoscale interaction of light-activated doped-quantum dots and antibiotics. The generation of doped quantum dots will provide a fast and efficient photocatalytic degradation technique for drugs. Furthermore, using a dopant agent with magnetic properties will offer a quick recuperation and reuse of these nanomaterials, unveiling new and fascinating scientific and technological possibilities for designing devices to treat contaminated surface water. The activities of this project will strengthen the research community within the University of Puerto Rico at Ponce, contributing to the development and consolidation of competitive and innovative investigation areas. Results from the research will be disseminated through peer-review publications, interdisciplinary conferences, and workshops. Undergraduate students incorporated into this project will acquire the scientific knowledge and educational skills to be proficient in conducting research and in presenting their research outcomes to the scientific community. In addition, these students will gain knowledge and research experience which will yield useful skills for successfully navigating their undergraduate tenure as well as their future careers in STEM fields.This project is jointly funded by the Nanoscale Interactions Program within CBET and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).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.