Scope and Description of Community

SCOPE:
To engage the scientific communities in Europe and the US currently conducting environmental research on nanomaterials, connect similar efforts, and encourage the evolution of hazard assessment methods and predictive models built on the foundations of fundamental research characterizing fate of nanomaterials in different environmental compartments and the interactions of nanomaterials with biota and ecosystems.

DESCRIPTION:
There are few models that quantitatively predict the consequences of the interactions of contaminants with biota, and as yet, none that predict these interactions with nanomaterials. At present, there is some understanding of the behaviour of colloids in the environment, but the details of how engineered nanomaterials behaviour relates to colloidal behaviour, and how they interact with organisms are unclear. Consequently, validated bioassays, hazard assessment tools, and especially predictive models, remain to be developed and tested for nanomaterials. It is critical that underpinning research be conducted that explores the fundamental principles that define the consequences of the interactions of nanomaterials with biota. These interactions govern bioavailability, internal deposition, deleterious effects, and bioaccumulation. Further, it is imperative that results of these research efforts be used in the development of quantitative hazard assessment tools, and predictive models. It is, therefore, essential to strengthen communication between those doing regulatory testing, modelling, and fundamental experimental research to create the basis for optimal use of experimental data. Overriding challenges that span all four of these research areas include the need to standardize testing methods for nanomaterials and the need to understand the influence of nanoparticle characteristics on these processes. This later issue necessitates nanomaterial characterization at every stage of exposure, uptake, distribution, and accumulation in order to understand what exactly the bioavailable or taken up dose is and to correlate the quantified response with a measured dose. Examples of existing modeling efforts that might take advantage of results of these research efforts include biodynamic models and equilibrium models such as the biotic ligand model.