Assessing how the properties of engineered nanomaterials contribute to toxicity and other human health impacts.
The global market for nanoparticles in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries is projected to reach 79.8 billion dollars by 2019. Nanoparticles have been increasingly important for many biomedical applications for use as therapeutics, prosthetics, drug delivery and cellular imaging. With a few exceptions, most medicinal nanomaterials remain a vision rather than a reality because they face translational barriers to FDA approval, such as in vivo stability, localization in the body and cells, and toxicity. In contrast, nanoparticle types used in other applications such as cosmetics and commercial products are not FDA regulated. Consequently, their human health and environmental impacts are unknown. While many studies have tried to study the impact of nanoparticle features, they do not take into account the biological transformations that occur once they are immersed in a physiological environment such as aggregation and protein-nanoparticle interactions. These transformations likely impact their behavior and our respective interpretation. Consequently, our understanding about how nanoparticle design features and their physiochemical properties influence their nanoparticle-biological interactions (NBIs), endocytosis, exocytosis, and clearance mechanisms are limited.
The long-term goal of our research is to design robust bioinspired nanomaterials and to understand their NBIs to harness this knowledge to improve and tailor their designs for translational biomedical and commercial applications. In addition, we want to understand the environmental and human health implications of engineered nanomaterials.
Related Publications
Silver Nanoparticles Stable to Oxidation and Silver Ion Release Show Size-Dependent Toxicity In Vivo. Nanomaterials. 2021.
Size-Dependent Interactions of Lipid-Coated Gold Nanoparticles: Developing a Better Mechanistic Understanding Through Model Cell Membranes and in vivo Toxicity. International Journal of Nanomedicine. 2020.