seize on(upon)

PHRASAL VERB

If you seize on something or seize upon it, you show great interest in it, often because it is useful to you.

• Newspapers seized on the results as proof that global warming wasn't really happening.
  

... Cobuild

1. (Lit) to grasp something tightly. (Upon is formal and less commonly used than on.) 

• Dave seized upon the knob of the door and yanked hard. 
• I seized on the railing and held on tight.
  

2. (Fig) to accept or adopt something, such as a plan, idea, etc. 

• I heard her ideas and seized upon them immediately. 
• The committee seized on my plan at once.
  

... http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/seize