I-Corps: Silver Nanoparticles for Elimination of Fungal Toxins

I-Corps：用于消除真菌毒素的银纳米颗粒

• 批准号: 2103610
• 负责人: Jamie Lead
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: University of South Carolina at Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-02-15 至 2023-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2103610&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Silver; Nanoparticles; Elimination; Fungal

The broader impact /commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development a safe way to reduce aflatoxin contamination in food. Aflatoxin contamination is a risk to human and livestock health. The World Health Organization estimates that 25 percent or more of the world’s crops are destroyed by aflatoxin contamination annually. The proposed technology would support food security, help to reduce hunger worldwide, and improve quality of life by providing increased quantities of safe food. The technology would allow for crops to not be wasted, enabling economic benefits. In addition, this environmentally friendly method has the potential to reduce or replace fungicide and pesticide use, further benefitting the environment.This I-Corps project is based on the development of nanotechnology that has been shown to significantly reduce fungal aflatoxin biosynthesis and excretion, using very low concentrations of manufactured silver nanoparticles (NPs). Research has shown that the reduced toxin production is not due to the silver ion but rather by transcriptome-level changes in the fungi based on reduced production of reactive oxygen species after exposure to the NP. Nano-fungal interactions also may be regulated based on the optimization of NP physico-chemical properties, and both size and coating of the NPs have been shown to have a significant effect. This regulation may allow for silver NPs to inhibit aflatoxin production by fungi responsible for grain, fruit and vegetable spoilage.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.

该 I-Corps 项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是开发一种减少食品中黄曲霉毒素污染的安全方法。世界卫生组织估计，黄曲霉毒素污染对人类和牲畜健康构成威胁。每年都会因黄曲霉毒素污染而被破坏。这项技术将支持粮食安全，帮助减少全球饥饿，并通过提供更多的安全食品来提高生活质量。此外，这种环保方法有可能减少或取代杀菌剂和杀虫剂的使用，进一步有益于环境。该 I-Corps 项目基于纳米技术的开发，已被证明可以显着减少真菌。研究表明，毒素产生的减少不是由于银离子，而是由于真菌转录组水平的变化。纳米真菌相互作用也可以通过纳米颗粒物理化学性质的优化来调节，并且纳米颗粒的尺寸和涂层已被证明具有显着的影响。法规可能允许银纳米粒子抑制导致谷物、水果和蔬菜腐败的真菌产生黄曲霉毒素。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并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，被认为值得支持。