Research project
Develop a methodology for assessing the effective dose of nanomaterials for environmental risk assessment purposes
How to make a quantitative assessment of the relative contribution to toxicity of ions and particles? Is the toxicity of nanoparticles related to their size or shape? Which physicochemical property of nanoparticles is an appropriate dose metric of nanoparticles?
- Duration
- 2011 - 2015
- Funding
- The project is funded by the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment of The Netherlands (RIVM)
- Partners
Partners
- The work was partly performed within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)-sponsored project Ecotoxicity of Metal and Metal Oxide Nanoparticles: Experimental Study and Modeling
- This project is part of the SmartMix program of The Netherlands government for financial support.
- Institute of Biology, Faculty of Science, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
- Cell Observatory, Faculty of Science, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
Short abstract
Nanotechnology is increasingly used in every sector of society. The rapid growth and application of nanotechnology inevitably results in the eventual exposure of humans and environmental receptors to nanomaterials. This PhD project mainly focuses on metal-based nanoparticles and exposure in aquatic systems and subsequently the risks to aquatic organisms. The aim and expected results are developing a methodology to assessment of dose metrics of nanoparticles.
Project description
In the risk assessment of chemicals, the dose metrics is one of the foundations. For conventional chemicals, risk is commonly expressed on the basis of dose metric “mass”. However, ‘mass’ as a dose metric is not ideal for the expression of responses induced by NPs.
For a better assessment of dose metrics of NPs, the physicochemical characteristics of NPs should be taken into account. Due to the fact that the characteristics of the MNs at the site of action are expected to differ from the characteristics in the external exposure, it is the actual local dose at the site of toxicity for which a relationship between the dose metric and the toxic effect needs to be determined.