EAGER Collaborative Proposal: A microfluidic platform for the discovery of new, life-like chemical systems

EAGER 合作提案：用于发现新的、逼真的化学系统的微流体平台

• 批准号: 1624413
• 负责人: David Eddington
• 金额: $ 15万
• 依托单位: University of Illinois at Chicago
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-08-01 至 2018-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1624413&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; Collaborative; Proposal; microfluidic; platform; EAGER; Collaborative; Proposal; microfluidic; platform

With this award, the Chemistry of Life Processes Program in the Chemistry Division is funding Dr. David Baum and collaborators from the University of Wisconsin - Madison and Dr. David Eddington from the University of Illinois - Chicago to develop a microfluidic platform for the discovery of new, life-like chemical systems. There is a lack of knowledge about how new life-like chemical systems, having the capacity for reproducing and evolving, can emerge. The researchers are developing a device to screen complex chemical mixtures in order to find life-like systems that can grow over a mineral surface and can evolve more efficient growth over time. The goal of the project is the discovery of new life-like chemical systems, which would advance the understanding of how life originated on earth. The new experimental approach of this research is used to engage students and the public through presentations. It is also shared with diverse chemists, including high-school chemistry teachers, in a citizen-science effort to understand the nature of life's chemical origins.This research project involves building a simple microfluidic device and an associated experimental paradigm for flowing a complex chemical mixture, in a stripe, over a mineral surface. This surface contains possible building blocks of autocatalytic cycles as well as inorganic or organic sources of energy. The stripe is displaced across the mineral surface over a multiple day experimental window. This experimental arrangement enables selection for adsorbed autocatalytic sets that can propagate themselves along the surface. Furthermore, if there is spatial variation in such autocatalytic systems, the device selects for variants that can more rapidly colonize newly encountered mineral. Among other analytical methods, X-ray photoemission spectroscopy is used to detect changes in the concentration of adsorbed carbon or nitrogen. Such changes would indicate an adaptive response to selection for enhanced colonization and growth. When new autocatalytic chemical systems are detected, their chemical composition is characterized.

通过该奖项，化学生命过程的化学程序计划是为威斯康星大学 - 麦迪逊大学的戴维·鲍姆（David Baum）博士和合作者提供资金，伊利诺伊大学 - 伊利诺伊大学 - 芝加哥大学的戴维·埃丁顿（David Eddington）博士开发了一个微流体平台，以发现新的，逼真的化学系统。缺乏有关如何出现具有繁殖和发展能力的新型化学系统如何出现的知识。研究人员正在开发一种筛选复杂化学混合物的装置，以找到可以在矿物表面生长的栩栩如生的系统，并且可以随着时间的流逝而发展更有效的生长。该项目的目的是发现类似生活的化学系统，这将促进对生命在地球上的理解。这项研究的新实验方法用于通过演讲吸引学生和公众。它还与多样化的化学家（包括高中化学老师）共享，以了解生活的化学起源的性质。本研究项目涉及在矿物质表面上建立一个简单的微流体设备和相关的实验范式，用于在条纹中流动复杂的化学混合物。该表面包含可能的自催化周期以及无机或有机能源的构件。在多天的实验窗口上，条带在矿物表面上移位。这种实验布置可以选择吸附的自催化集，可以在表面传播自身。此外，如果此类自催化系统存在空间变化，则该设备会选择可以更快地定居新遇到的矿物的变体。在其他分析方法中，X射线光发射光谱法用于检测吸附碳或氮浓度的变化。这样的变化将表明对选择增强定殖和增长的选择的适应性反应。当检测到新的自催化化学系统时，它们的化学成分也会表征。