Timing, hosts and locations of (grouped) events of NanoImpactNet

NanoSafetyCluster - Compendium 2012
5.1.6 2 nd NanoImpactNet Integrating Conference and
Training School in Lausanne, Switzerland
From 10-12 March 2010, Lausanne’s University hopsitals, once again
welcomed representatives of academia, regulatory authorities,
government departments, civil society and industry to discuss the
challenges and limitations of NM safety. The conference had 6
plenary sessions (1a. Interaction between nanomaterials and
biological barriers – barriers in the human body; 1b. Barriers in the
environment and different species; 2. Nanomaterial behaviour with
regard to environmental and physical barriers; 3. Quality control in
nanomaterial reserarch; 4. Nanotechnological tools for impact
assessment; 5. From research to policy) and featured over 40
presentations from leading experts providing insight into the latest
nanotsafety research. Over 300 delegates attended this
conference, representing over 100 universities and research
institutes. A one-day training school took place before the
conference on Tuesday 9 March.
Training School – Handling protocols and standardization of
nanomaterials in toxicological research
The school addressed higher level issues of ‘best practice for safe
handling of NMs’ to ensure that NanoImpactNet PhD-students and
postdoctoral researchers working with them are up-to-date with
international best practices. It also aimed to identify the needs of
regulatory agencies and develop appropriate strategies. This
ensured that NanoImpactNet outputs help these agencies to
design and implement nanotechnology regulations. This is key to
ensuring that NanoImpactNet plays a leading role in providing the
scientific evidence required for potential European nanoregulations.
Prof. Iseult Lynch (UCD) introduced a first session on current
international best practice in NP handling, with regulatory
(NIOSH), industrial (Intel) and academic (EPFL) experts. Break out
groups then used these real-world examples to attempt to
determine the minimum safe handling practice that should be
observed in their own research laboratories. The second plenary
session was on closing the gap between research and regulation.
Speakers from the International Organisation for Standardisation,
the European Food Safety Authority and the European Medicines
Agency, showed how the scientific community’s research and
reporting of information can contribute to the development of
regulations. Guidelines for experimental design and results
templates could maximise effectiveness of input to standards &
regulation.
Special stakeholder session - “Wrapped up in nano: how to inform
the public about nano enhanced food contact materials”
From NGOs to the European Parliament, rising concern about the
possible health impacts of NPs in food and NMs in food related
products led to the development of this session. Led by Prof.
Geoffrey Hunt (SMUC), NanoImpactNet invited stakeholders to
contribute to the debate on how this sensitive and controversial
issue can be communicated to the public in the near future. Invited
speakers from industry (Coke Cola/Confederation of Food and
Drink Industries), regulators (European Food Safety Authority) and
legislators (EC Directorate General for Health and Consumers), and
civil society (Federation of German Consumer Organisastions) gave
their views. This was followed by a lively debate including
questions for conference delegates.
A short report of this stakeholder session is available on the NIN
web site and its conclusions may also go towards a peer-review
paper.
Conference Sessions
Session 1a focused on Interaction between nanomaterials and
biological barriers in the human body. This looked at how NPs
interact with barriers in the lungs, gut, brain and other barriers, but
also at aspects of NM uptake, intracellular localisation, and cellular
fate in the specific cell types found in these organs.
Session 1b looked at the interaction between NMs and the
biological barriers in the environment and in different species. It
focussed on how NMs in several different media and situations,
how uptake differs between species, how NMs enter species
(exposure routes) and where they locate within organisms
following that exposure and uptake. Large numbers of
publications are emerging in the literature assessing the hazards of
NMs in cells and animals. However, it is becoming increasingly
apparent that NMs can interfere with the read-outs from some test
methods, leading to false positives or negatives, as well as
inconclusive results. Approaches that are adapted to NMs need to
be established and validated. The discussions focussed on three
different domains, in vitro, in vivo and ex vivo testing strategies.
Session 2 was on Nanomaterial behaviour with regard to
environmental and physical barriers. It focussed on NM exposures
in the environment, taking into consideration the ability of NMs to
be transported through different environments based on their
different surface properties, and also on how NPs are able to cross
physical environmental barriers and engineered barriers, such as
protective equipment.
Session 3, on Quality control of nanomaterial research looked at
NM suspension and exposure, agglomeration and deagglomeration
of NMs in both air and liquids, issues surrounding
protein absorption to the surface of NMs, and quality control of
NM suspension and exposure systems. This included the physicochemistry
of interactions between NPs and biomolecules.
Session 4 looked at Nanotechnological tools for hazard
identification and/or risk assessment, thus addressing how
research in the area of nanotechnology safety is facilitating the
implementation and use of these products by society. This involved
topics such as measurement, imaging and delivery of NPs.
As part of NanoImpactNet’s efforts to be a platform for
communicaton and networking, it offered delegates the chance to
run their own sessions which took place in parallel with the
Stakeholder session. These looked at: Promotion of good practices
in research laboratories (lead by ICON, IST and NIOSH); The
Precautionary Matrix for Synthetic Nanomaterials (Swiss Federal
Office of Public Health); the Fate and toxicity of engineered NPs in
the aquatic environment (Italian National Research Council and a
number of Italian universities); and NPs and the Immune system
(Uni. Salzburg).
5.1.7 Bratislava Training Schools, Slovakia
From 19-23 July 2010, the Slovak Medical University hosted two
NanoImpactNet training schools for young researchers.
126 Compendium of Projects in the European NanoSafety Cluster