AGRICULTURAL BIOLOGY IS AT THE CRUX OF OUR SUSTAINABILITY EFFORTS AS WE FACE THE DEMANDS FROM A GROWING POPULATION AND DUE TO CHANGING GLOBAL CLIMATE. IMPLEMENTING TOOLS TO TRANSFORM AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES ARE NEEDED TO KEEP PACE WITH GROWING GLOBAL FOOD AND ENERGY NEEDS. RECENT PROGRESS IN GENOME EDITING TOOLS HAVE REVOLUTIONIZED RESEARCHER ABILITIES TO GENETICALLY PROBE AND MODIFY LIVING SYSTEMS. HOWEVER, GENETIC ENGINEERING OF MATURE PLANTS AND THEIR PLASTIDS HAS REMAINED A CHALLENGE OWING TO THE NUMEROUS PHYSICAL BARRIERS NEEDING TO BE CROSSED FOR PLANT GENE EDITING. IN GENERAL, THE MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR BIOLOGY TOOLKIT FOR PLANTS IS QUITE OUTDATED: GENETIC MANIPULATION IN BACTERIAL, FUNGAL, AND MAMMALIAN SYSTEMS IS ROUTINE, WHILE TECHNOLOGIES TO GENETICALLY MANIPULATE PLANTS HAVE SELDOM BEEN UPDATED SINCE THE MID-1980S. AS A RESULT, DESPITE THE CENTRAL ROLE OF PLANTS IN GLOBAL SUSTAINABILITY, BIOENERGY, AND MEDICINE, OUR ABILITIES TO PROBE AND MANIPULATE PLANT GENES AND UNDERSTAND THE BIOSYNTHETIC PATHWAYS THAT GUIDE PLANT METABOLISM ARE STAGNANT. TO KEEP PACE WITH GROWING DEMANDS ON OUR FOOD SUPPLY AND ENERGY NEEDS, WE REQUIRE RAPID IMPROVEMENTS TO THE TOOLKIT FOR UNDERSTANDING AND CONTROLLING PLANTS AT THE MOLECULAR LEVEL.NANOMATERIALS HOLD GREAT PROMISE TO ADVANCE OUR KNOWLEDGE OF - AND TOOLSET FOR - GENE EDITING FOR PLANT SCIENCE. THIS STUDY WILL SYSTEMATICALLY CHARACTERIZE NANOMATERIAL TRANSPORT IN PLANTS, TO DEVELOP TOOLS FOR NANOPARTICLE-MEDIATED GENE EDITING OF PLANTS. THIS PROJECT IS A FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND, WHERE NANOMATERIAL-BIOMOLECULE CONJUGATES WILL BE SYSTEMATICALLY STUDIED FOR APPLICATIONS IN PLANT GENOME RESEARCH. FURTHERMORE, SUCCESS IN NANOPARTICLE-MEDIATE DELIVERY OF GENE EDITING TOOLS WILL PRODUCE A PLATFORM BY WHICH TO GENETICALLY MODIFY PLANTS WITHOUT DNA, WHICH COULD TRANSFORM OUR VIEW OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS. THE PRESENT STUDY IS FOUNDED AT THE INTERFACE OF NANOMATERIAL SCIENCE AND PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY, WILL SYSTEMATICALLY UNRAVEL THE COMPLEXITY OF NANOMATERIAL INTERACTIONS AND TRANSPORT IN PLANTS FOR GENE EDITING.OUR GOALS ARE TO DEVELOP TOOLS TO ENABLE BROAD-SCALE PRODUCTION OF TRANSGENIC PLANTS, WHICH CAN MITIGATE THE INCREASINGLY URGENT NEED FOR SUSTAINABLE AND HIGH-YIELDING CROPS. THE STUDY OF NANOMATERIAL BIODISTRIBUTION IN PLANT SYSTEMS, AND LEVERAGING THEIR USE TO CREATE MATURE PLANT GENETIC TRANSFORMANTS WILL ENABLE A SYNTHETIC METHOD TO CREATE ROBUST CROPS TO MEET OUR GROWING FOOD AND ENERGY NEEDS.