Characterizing nanomaterial penetration in cutworms as part of next generation Smart Crop Technology (SCT) development
To discover nanomaterial (NM) characteristics that drive penetration in cutworms. To understand the impact of soil on NM migration, NM stability and molecular delivery efficacy. To establish environmental health and safety research stream to mitigate regulatory barriers during downstream commercialization. The primary goal of this project is to initiate research and development on inorganic molecular delivery technology for cutworms. This proposed project extends upon ongoing nano-carrier research, with the long-term goal of creating next generation smart crop technology.
The aim of this project was to develop new scientific methods so that we can observe how nanomaterials (particles that are 10,000x smaller than the width of a human hair), interact with and penetrate into cutworms. The reason this is important is the AAFC NanoLab is developing next generation crop treatments that use nanomaterials to package up new kinds of pesticides. When we spray the pests with the nanomaterial-pesticide, it is key to understand whether they stick to the cutworm, how they penetrate, and ultimately where they aggregate. This information is critical for optimizing the new crop treatments.
The team was successful and developed an analysis and imaging system that enables to get full 3D renderings of the treated insects and see where the nanomaterials are. These methods are and will continue to be used in further projects and are a key foundation of the research and development process. The team went beyond the initial scope of the project and implemented a system that can read in the 3D nanomaterial-insect renderings and leverage artificial intelligence to analyse the data automatically. This extension of the project reduces the analysis time from a week per sample to minutes.
Based on the findings from this project, the research team is still making some improvements to the artificial intelligence model, but with these fundamental methods in place, they are continuing their pursuit to find next generation crop treatments made of nanomaterials and pesticides. The team has received further funding to collaborate with the National Research Council’s NANO (nanotechnology) division to ramp up their testing of different nanomaterial formulations.