TY - JOUR
T1 - NanoEHS - Defining fundamental science needs
T2 - No easy feat when the simple itself is complex
AU - Grassian, Vicki H.
AU - Haes, Amanda J.
AU - Mudunkotuwa, Imali A.
AU - Demokritou, Philip
AU - Kane, Agnes B.
AU - Murphy, Catherine J.
AU - Hutchison, James E.
AU - Isaacs, Jacqueline A.
AU - Jun, Young Shin
AU - Karn, Barbara
AU - Khondaker, Saiful I.
AU - Larsen, Sarah C.
AU - Lau, Boris L.T.
AU - Pettibone, John M.
AU - Sadik, Omowunmi A.
AU - Saleh, Navid B.
AU - Teague, Clayton
N1 - Funding Information:
The workshop was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under grant CBET-1441457. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. The organizers also thank Omowunmi Sadik and Barbara Karn, President and Executive Director, respectively, of the Sustainable Nanotechnology Organization (SNO) and the 2014 SNO organizers Philip Demokritou and Jacqueline Isaacs for facilitating the organization of the workshop.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Royal Society of Chemistry 2016.
PY - 2016/2/1
Y1 - 2016/2/1
N2 - Nanotechnology is no longer in its infancy and has made significant advances since the implementation of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) in 2000. Incorporation of nanotechnology in many fields including information technology, medicine, materials, energy, catalysis and cosmetics has led to an increase in engineered nanomaterial (ENM) production, and consequently, increased nanomaterial use. In comparison, the generation of concrete and consistent evidence related to the environmental health and safety of nanomaterials (NanoEHS) is lacking. The main factors contributing to the slower progress in NanoEHS versus conventional EHS are related to the complexity, property transformations, life cycles and behavior of nanomaterials even in carefully controlled environments. Therefore, new systematic, integrated research approaches in NanoEHS are needed for overcoming this complexity and bridging current knowledge gaps. A workshop on "NanoEHS: Fundamental Science Needs" brought together scientists and engineers to identify current fundamental science challenges and opportunities within NanoEHS. Detailed discussions were conducted on identifying the fundamental properties that are critical in NanoEHS, differentiating between conventional and NanoEHS studies as well as understanding, the effect of dynamic transformations on nanometrology, role of dosimetry and mechanistic data gaps in nanotoxicology. An important realization that even simple nanoscale materials can be complex when considering NanoEHS implications was noted several times during the workshop. Despite this fact, a number of fundamental research areas to further the scientific foundation to address NanoEHS needs are suggested.
AB - Nanotechnology is no longer in its infancy and has made significant advances since the implementation of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) in 2000. Incorporation of nanotechnology in many fields including information technology, medicine, materials, energy, catalysis and cosmetics has led to an increase in engineered nanomaterial (ENM) production, and consequently, increased nanomaterial use. In comparison, the generation of concrete and consistent evidence related to the environmental health and safety of nanomaterials (NanoEHS) is lacking. The main factors contributing to the slower progress in NanoEHS versus conventional EHS are related to the complexity, property transformations, life cycles and behavior of nanomaterials even in carefully controlled environments. Therefore, new systematic, integrated research approaches in NanoEHS are needed for overcoming this complexity and bridging current knowledge gaps. A workshop on "NanoEHS: Fundamental Science Needs" brought together scientists and engineers to identify current fundamental science challenges and opportunities within NanoEHS. Detailed discussions were conducted on identifying the fundamental properties that are critical in NanoEHS, differentiating between conventional and NanoEHS studies as well as understanding, the effect of dynamic transformations on nanometrology, role of dosimetry and mechanistic data gaps in nanotoxicology. An important realization that even simple nanoscale materials can be complex when considering NanoEHS implications was noted several times during the workshop. Despite this fact, a number of fundamental research areas to further the scientific foundation to address NanoEHS needs are suggested.
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U2 - 10.1039/c5en00112a
DO - 10.1039/c5en00112a
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:84958256762
SN - 2051-8153
VL - 3
SP - 15
EP - 27
JO - Environmental Science: Nano
JF - Environmental Science: Nano
IS - 1
ER -