CEE Seminar: Nanocarrier Design Rules for Precision Delivery of Agrochemicals to Plants

Abstract: Nanotechnology can be leveraged to promote resilience and sustainability of agriculture in a changing climate. However, application of nanomaterials developed for this purpose often requires precision delivery into plants or specific plant organs. The design space for nanotechnology is large and requires better understanding of the nanomaterial-plant interactions that determines how they travel through plants and their ultimate fate. This talk will discuss what we know about factors influencing uptake of nanoparticles into leaves, mesophyll cells and phloem, and how this subsequently influences their distribution to other tissues, e.g. roots, stem, younger leaves. It also presents environmentally responsive nanocarrier designs that enable delivery of active agents in response to a selected environmental or biological stimulation. Overall, this body of work provides some design rules for precision delivery of agrochemicals to plants and highlights opportunities for nanotechnology in agriculture.

Bio: Lowry is the Walter J. Blenko, Sr. Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, and an executive and associate editor of the ACS Journal Environmental Science & Technology. His research area is environmental chemistry, with an emphasis on interactions of nanomaterials at mineral-water and biological-water surfaces. His research aims to improve the efficiency and efficacy of agriculture, environmental remediation and water treatment. Lowry is a fellow of the AAAS and AEESP. He has published over 200 scientific articles and is a highly cited scientist (top 1%) in the area of ecology and environment. He has received awards for his research from the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists (Science Award), American Society of Civil Engineers (Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Award) and Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (Malcolm Pirnie/AEESP Frontiers in Research Award).