Partnership
A new project seeks to identify and elaborate the characteristics of engineered nanomaterials (ENM) that determine their biological hazard potential. Nanosolutions will help develop a safety classification model for ENM based on an understanding of their interactions with living organisms, benefiting industry and enabling innovation
ISafety
Engineered nanomaterials (ENM) - defined as having at least one dimension ≤100nm - have attracted a great deal of interest during recent years, due to their many technologically interesting properties. The unique properties of ENM and their applications have given birth to immense technological and economic expectations
for industries using ENM.
However, some of these properties have given rise to concern that they may be harmful
to humans. Currently, creating
commercial products using ENM requires rigorous testing and there are many barriers to overcome. Scientists, regulators, and the industrial
representatives have now begun to investigate the features of ENM in order to be sure of their safe use in nanotechnologies (NT), i.e. technologies utilising ENM. The European Commission has also explored in-depth the characteristics of ENM and issued a document on ways to assure the safety of
ENM. An effective test is
required for these properties in order to ensure ENM are safe to use. While testing of individual
applications of ENM is
possible, it is expensive and time- consuming and acts as a barrier to innovation. This is the context which the Nanosolutions project addresses.
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“The Nanosolutions ENM safety classification model will be of great benefit not only to industry, but also in enabling and speeding up innovation”
proteins and other molecules, to control the body’s many systems and processes. A typical protein such as haemoglobin, which carries oxygen through the bloodstream, is 5nm in diameter. The main objective of the project is to
identify and elaborate those characteristics of ENM that determine their biological
The long term goal is to create a set of biomarkers
of ENM toxicity that are
relevant in assessing and predicting the safety and toxicity of ENM across species. ENM-organism interaction is complex and depends not simply on the composition of the ENM core, but particularly on its physicochemical
properties, which are Insight Publishers | Projects
nnovation The Nanosolutions consortium, which
began in April 2013, was created to develop a safety classification for engineered nanomaterials (ENM) based on an understanding of their interactions with living organisms at molecular, cellular and organism levels. Many important functions of living organisms take place at the nanoscale. The human body uses natural nanomaterials, such as
hazard potential. This potential includes the ability of ENM to induce damage at the cellular, tissue, or organism levels by interacting with cellular structures leading to impairment of key cellular functions. These adverse effects may be mediated by ENM-induced alterations in gene expression
and translation, but may
involve also epigenetic transformation of genetic functions.
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