Workshop on “Life Cycle of the Elements: rocks, soils, organisms, environment”

该在线研讨会将聚集生物学和环境科学不同领域的专家，讨论通过环境进入生物体的“元素生命周期”。研讨会期间将审议的主题涵盖土壤科学、环境科学和采矿;植物科学、植物工程和农业;以及活组织和细胞中微量营养素吸收、运输和功能的基本过程。讲习班由四个部分组成：（1）地质/地球化学对环境的影响;（2）土壤-微生物-植物界面;（3）细胞对元素的利用（基本机制;吸收、运输、储存、功能）;（4）环境对生物体的影响。本次研讨会的一个主要成果将是一份同行评审的出版报告，该报告定义了围绕化学元素如何在生态系统中移动的前沿研究问题，从土壤和活细胞之间的界面，到元素如何被活组织和细胞吸收，运输，使用和储存。定义这些问题将澄清哪些领域将最受益于尖端的X射线技术和补充成像工具。研讨会将通过海报贡献和“想法猛击”吸引学生和博士后研究人员，演讲者有一张幻灯片和1-2分钟的时间来描述他们今天无法解决的重要研究问题。本次研讨会是2020年6月国际象棋X-LEAP倡议研讨会的后续活动。X-LEAP代表生命科学、地球科学、农业和植物科学的X射线成像。环境和生物体中的元素分布基本上是相互交织的。地球的地下成分，通过自然地质和人类的影响，强烈影响周围水道，土壤，植物和动物中的元素含量。研讨会将确定与元素过程有关的前沿问题，特别是金属，在土壤，微生物和植物之间的复杂界面，包括环境中的元素循环和元素吸收，运输，储存的基本机制，以及活组织和细胞的功能。在这些复杂的化学异质系统（包括活组织）中，了解不同长度尺度下的定量元素分布对于了解环境尺度（mm至m）下至细胞甚至亚细胞水平（1 µm）的元素运输基础过程至关重要。通常，不仅要确定元素分布，还要确定化学状态（即金属氧化态和/或键合环境），理想情况下，在动态变化系统的相关时间尺度上，用最少的样品制备或甚至在体内。该研讨会还将寻求澄清所需的实验能力，以促进对它所定义的问题的理解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

This online workshop will gather experts in diverse areas of biology and environmental sciences to discuss the “life cycle of elements” moving through the environment and into organisms. Topics to be considered during the workshop span the fields of soil sciences, environmental sciences and mining; plant sciences, plant engineering and agriculture; and fundamental processes of micronutrient uptake, transport, and function in living tissues and cells. The workshop consists of four sessions: (1) Geological/geochemical impacts on environment; (2) Soil-microbe-plant interfaces; (3) Use of elements by cells (fundamental mechanisms; uptake, transport, storage, function); and (4) Impact of environment on living organisms. A major product of this workshop will be a peer-reviewed, published report defining forefront research questions surrounding how chemical elements move through ecosystems, from interfaces between soils and living cells, to how elements are taken up, transported, used, and stored by living tissues and cells. Defining these questions will clarify which areas would most benefit from cutting-edge x-ray techniques and complementary imaging tools. The workshop will engage students and postdoctoral researchers through poster contributions and an “idea slam,” where speakers have one slide and 1-2 minutes to describe an important research question that they cannot address today. This workshop is a follow on to the CHESS X-LEAP initiative workshop in June 2020. X-LEAP stands for X-ray imaging for Life sciences, Earth sciences, Agriculture, and Plant sciences.Elemental distributions in the environment and in living organisms are fundamentally intertwined. The subsurface composition of the earth, through both natural geology and human impact, strongly influences the elemental content in the surrounding waterways, soils, plants, and animals. The workshop will define leading-edge questions related to elemental processes, especially metals, at the complex interfaces between soils, microbiomes, and plants, including elemental cycling in the environment and fundamental mechanisms of elemental uptake, transport, storage, and function in living tissues and cells. Understanding quantitative elemental distributions at different length scales in these complex, chemically heterogeneous systems, including living tissues, is essential to understanding the fundamental processes underpinning elemental transport on environmental scales (mm to m) down to cellular and even subcellular levels (1 µm). Frequently it is critical to determine not only the elemental distribution but also the chemical state (i.e. metal oxidation states and/or bonding environment), ideally with minimal sample preparation or even in vivo, at relevant time scales for dynamically changing systems. The workshop will also seek to clarify the experimental capabilities needed to advance understanding of the questions it defines.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.