DNA-gated stimuli-responsive nanostructures for metal sensing and smart remediation

美国大约40%的河流和湖泊受到污染，这个问题在发展中国家更为严重。特别是，水被重金属污染是一个日益严重的问题，对健康产生严重的不利影响。因此，重金属的检测和修复是分析化学家和环境工程师的主要任务。本文提出了一种仿生装置来解决这个问题。该装置仅在存在目标污染物的情况下释放传感或修复化学品，而在不存在目标的情况下，它可以在良性聚合物胶囊中长时间稳定地在水中流动。我们的方法将改变抽样-测试-补救的方法，新的寻求-响应-补救（SRR）。为了实现这一目标，我们建议使用DNA酶门控聚合物囊泡搜索污染物和修复。与倾倒化学品到水中进行修复相比，我们的方法更有针对性，效率更高。该项目将通过NSERC的国际合作项目与我们在法国波尔多大学的合作者一起进行。两家加拿大当地公司也将参与指导该项目，以产生实际影响。

Around 40% of the rivers and lakes in America are polluted, and this problem is much more serious in developing countries. In particular, water contamination by heavy metals is a growing problem with serious adverse health effects. Therefore, detection and remediation of heavy metals is a major task for analytical chemists and environmental engineers. We propose herein a biomimetic device for solving this problem. The device releases sensing or remediation chemicals only in the presence of target contaminants, while it can stably flow in water for a long time in a benign polymer capsule in the absence the target. Our approach will change the sampling-testing-remediation method to the new seeking-responding-remediation (SRR). To achieve this goal, we propose to use DNAzyme-gated polymersomes for searching contaminants and remediation. Compared to dumping chemicals into water for remediation, our approach is more targeted with a higher efficiency. This project will be performed with our collaborator in the University of Bordeaux in France through NSERC's international collaboration program. Two local Canadian companies will also be involved to guide the project to make practical impacts.