Tree-on-a-Chip - Design of synthetic plant lungs

Group website: 
http://www.jensen-research.com/ 

Project summary:
Aquatic plants (e.g. water lilies) have lung-like organs that allow them to pump oxygen far below the water surface using gradients in chemical potential. In this project, you will design and test a synthetic plant lung and investigate it’s use as a possible source of renewable energy.

Description:
Oxygen is ubiquitous and extremely important to life throughout the biosphere. Oxygen is found in all plant and animal cells where it plays a pivotal role in energy conversion reactions. Oxygen molecules are small and therefore diffuse easily from the atmosphere to plant cells on land. By contrast, aquatic plants such as water lilies cannot rely on diffusion because the stem and roots exist in a water-saturated environment. To overcome this constraint, leaves of aquatic plants have evolved lung-like organs that pump atmospheric gasses below the water surface. The physical mechanism that drive transport, however, remains poorly understood though gradients in humidity are believed to play a role. In this project, you will elucidate the physics of plant lungs via a combination of theory and experiments. First, you will develop and analyze a mathematical model of the oxygen flow. Second, you will fabricate devices designed to mimic the structures located in plant leaves (see image). Third, you will measure gas-flow rates from the devices. Finally, we will use a combination of theory and experiments to infer the optimal design and ascertain it’s potential as source of renewable energy.