Microplastic pollution can be found just about any place on Earth and, to the increasing concern of marine biologists, that includes oceans and waterways that are home to vulnerable plants and animals.

来自康奈尔大学和北卡罗来纳州立大学的工程师提出了一种创造性的解决方案：一支游泳，自propell的生物材料的大军，称为“微蛋白酶”，可以清除和捕获塑料，因此可以通过计算工程的微生物进行分解。

他们的项目获得了国家科学基金会在研究和创新计划方面的新兴领域的200万美元赠款，并结合了化学，生物学，环境毒理学，水文学，人工智能和计算机科学方面的专业知识。

微型塑料 - 小毫米大小的塑料的微小部分 - 很容易通过废水处理设施，并且越来越多地进入海洋。

They come from larger pieces of plastic debris, or are manufactured as microbeads for products such as skin cleansers and toothpastes.

The environmental implications of these microplastics are not fully understood, although biologists have found evidence they alter the feeding habits of birds, fish and other wildlife.

The research team aims to design several classes of inexpensive, non-toxic microcleaners to use as micro-sized weapons against this large problem.

康奈尔（Cornell）的重点将是一类针对水中自动式设计的油滴，收集微塑料颗粒并漂浮到表面，可以通过驳船或其他大容器收集它们。

这些液滴将包含化合物，这些化合物在油和水之间产生张力，使它们能够自我推广。

Interfaces of soft materials such as oil droplets are a specialty of Nicholas Abbott, the Tisch University Professor in the Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and co-principal investigator for the project.

雅培说，微塑料收集的众多挑战之一是，在微颗粒的世界中，它们相对较大，并且在水中非常缓慢。

他说：“您迫不及待地想他们来俘虏您。”“它们也存在于大量水中。

我们的计划是基于可生物降解的液滴来创建积极推进的微型系统，这些液滴寻找并捕获微塑料颗粒。

因为他们是自航,他们可以搜索large volume of water.”

使微型清洁剂起作用的关键是了解其旨在捕获的微塑料的化学构成 - 项目的另一个目标。

Microcleaners must be able to recognize a variety of plastic chemistries, some of which are altered by long exposure to sunlight or dominated by biofilms of living organisms covering the surface.

The research team will develop new analytical tools for characterizing microplastics based on liquid crystal sensors, artificial intelligence and computational design of peptides – chains of amino acids – designed to recognize and bond to the surfaces of microplastics.

The peptides will be engineered at North Carolina State, using machine-learning methods developed at Cornell by Fengqi You, the Roxanne E. and Michael J. Zak Professor in Energy Systems Engineering, and the project’s co-principal investigator.

您希望从吸收到由雅培设计的新型液晶中产生的独特光学图案中学习。

您说：“我们正在采用一种独特的方法来开发有效的深度学习技术来解释微塑料在液晶界面上产生的空间和时间光学信号，从而创建光学的“指纹”，以指示微塑料的物种和浓度。”

You will also use machine-learning techniques to support the last component of the study – engineering microbes in the form of tiny bacteria that can degrade the plastic.

The microbes will carry out a biochemical process that turns microplastic into more environmentally friendly and potentially valuable materials, such as biofuels or fatty acids that can be used to produce more microcleaners.

研究人员还希望推进主动微型设计的科学，并开发用于塑料可持续处理的微生物，以及该项目的其他方面，具有各种环境和工业应用的潜力。

雅培说：“在影响微塑料所需的巨大规模上，传统的工程捕获方法是没有意义的。”

“我们的一部分策略是使用解构的微塑料的产品作为可以收集其他颗粒的微型清洁剂的基础。

这种循环方法可以使工程解决方案所需的过程扩展。”

North Carolina State professors Carol Hall, Orlin Velev and Nathan Crook are co-principal investigators on the project.

Helping to guide the initial research are Shaoyi Jiang, the Robert S. Langer ’70 Family and Friends Professor in Cornell’s Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering, and Todd Walter, professor of biological and environmental engineering in Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

资料来源：康奈尔工程学院。