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

Princeton University, Princeton NJ

Investigators

Abstract

CBET - 1605624; 1605816 PI: Shor, Leslie; Prud'homme, Robert The 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.