Collaborative Research: SuSChEM: Root-Targeted Delivery of Encapsulated Agrochemicals using Natural Microbial Carriers

CBET-1605624；1605816PI：Shor，Leslie；Prud‘homme，Robert这个合作项目的目标是开发一种方法，将除草剂、杀菌剂和杀线虫剂等化合物直接输送到植物的根尖，使它们最有利于植物的生长和保存。为了实现靶向递送，感兴趣的化合物将被包裹在纳米颗粒中。原生生物是土壤中丰富的单细胞微生物，可以自发吞噬纳米颗粒并携带它们穿过土壤。原生生物在化学上被吸引到正在生长的植物的根尖，这意味着包裹的化合物可以优先输送到根尖，而不是分散在整个土壤中。该项目将开发与原生生物摄取和运输兼容的纳米胶囊技术。这项研究的好处将是提高效率、降低成本和减少农业中使用化学品的影响，所有这些都可以增加作物产量，促进农业企业的可持续性。不同学术水平的学生将参与该项目，该项目将作为康涅狄格州高中教师参与早期大学体验计划的外展活动的平台。闪光纳米沉淀法和反闪光纳米沉淀法将用于高效、经济和可扩展地生产生物兼容粒子。将开发荧光农化类似物来评估包埋、吸收和运输。将在广泛的疏水性范围内开发类似物，这将有助于确定可行性和商业化潜力的规则。将从农业土壤中收集形成包囊的非致病土壤原生生物，并对其进行筛选，以有效吸收纳米胶囊农用化学品并通过类似土壤的介质进行运输。将开发一种微流体传输试验，模拟土壤的物理微结构和在植物根的直接环境中发现的化学梯度。微流控分析将能够快速筛选和收集预测建模所需的基本吸收和传输参数。最后，将开发一个基于试剂的孔隙尺度传输模型，以表征在现场尺度上实施这项技术的潜在好处。

CBET - 1605624; 1605816PI: Shor, Leslie; Prud'homme, RobertThe goal of this collaborative project is to develop a method to deliver chemical compounds such as herbicides, fungicides, and nematicides directly to the root tips of plants where they can be most benefit to the growth and preservation of the plant. To accomplish targeted delivery, the compounds of interest will be encapsulated in nanoparticles. Protists, which are single-cell microbes that are abundant in soil, can spontaneously engulf nanoparticles and carry them through soil. Protists are chemically attracted toward the root tips of growing plants, which means that the encapsulated compounds can be preferentially delivered to the root tips rather than being dispersed throughout all of the soil. The project will develop nanoencapsulation technology that is compatible with protist uptake and transport. The benefits of the research will be increased efficiency, reduced costs and reduced impact of chemical use in agriculture, all of which can increase crop production and promote sustainability of the farming enterprise. Students at various academic levels will participate in the project, and the project will be used as a platform for outreach activities for Connecticut high school teachers participating in the Early College Experience program.Flash nanoprecipitation and inverse flash nanoprecipitation will be used for efficient, economic and scalable production of biocompatible particles. Fluorescent agrochemical analogs will be developed to assess encapsulation, uptake, and transport. Analogs will be developed across a wide range of hydrophobicity, which will help identify rules for feasibility and commercialization potential. Cyst-forming, non-pathogenic soil protists will be collected from agricultural soils and screened for efficient uptake of nanoencapsulated agrochemicals and transport through soil-like media. A microfluidic transport assay will be developed that emulates the physical microstructure of soil and the chemical gradients found in the immediate environment of plant roots. The microfluidic assay will enable rapid screening and collection of fundamental uptake and transport parameters needed for predictive modelling. Finally, an agent-based pore-scale transport model will be developed to characterize potential benefits of implementing this technology at the field scale.