Consortium for Manufactured Nanomaterial Bioavailability & Environmental Exposure (or nanoBEE)
Lead Research Organisation:
Heriot-Watt University
Department Name: Sch of Life Sciences
Abstract
The nano-BEE consortia will develop and refine, using empirical data, a critical subset of models focused on exposure to nanomaterials (NMs) and their bioavailability in the environment. The objectives of this study are to (a) generate controlled and wellcharacterized NMs libraries for environmental assessment (b) prove that soft landed gold clusters provide suitable fiducial markers to enable angstrom resolution in aquatic tomography of NMs in environmental media (c) demonstrate that NM environmental modification processes can be classified by the extent of aggregation, dissolution and surface modification and to experimentally and computationally describe the partition of these modified NMs between environmental compartments (d) to develop modified biodynamic models for NM bioavailability that reflect both water and food exposures and (e) to validate biotic ligand models for NM effects on aquatic organisms. An integrated computational and experimental program will examine the environmental chemistry of manufactured NMs using electron microscopy, scattering techniques, and spectroscopy; use traceable NMs to quantify influx and efflux rates in model aquatic species, including in a trophic chain; and employ both conventional measures of toxicological endpoints as well as the latest molecular ('omics') methods to quantify biological effects as well as identify new mechanisms for toxicity. Such information will be input into biotic ligand models for NMs classes that output anticipated EC50 and other outcomes given information about NM exposure and local water chemistry. Through its engagement with endusers the consortia will link its predictions of NM body burdens and toxicological outcomes to risk management frameworks useful in regulatory decision-making.
Organisations
- Heriot-Watt University (Lead Research Organisation)
- AstraZeneca (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- National Physical Laboratory (Project Partner)
- Joint Research Centre (Project Partner)
- Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Project Partner)
- University of Nottingham (Project Partner)
Publications
Khan FR
(2015)
Accumulation dynamics and acute toxicity of silver nanoparticles to Daphnia magna and Lumbriculus variegatus: implications for metal modeling approaches.
in Environmental science & technology
Kalman J
(2015)
Characterisation of bioaccumulation dynamics of three differently coated silver nanoparticles and aqueous silver in a simple freshwater food chain
in Environmental Chemistry
Description | Identified main effects and pathways of silver nanomaterials. Related toxicity to coating. Identified effects across different aquatic organisms. Assess effects across simple food chain. |
Exploitation Route | Understanding of effects linking to coatings. Potential link to safe by design. |
Sectors | Chemicals,Environment,Government, Democracy and Justice,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology |