By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Research,United StatesOn August 1-2, 2019, the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) will hold “The Future of the NNI: A Stakeholder Workshop.” The NNI has played a pivotal role in fostering and advancing a dynamic nanotechnology ecosystem in support of the initiative’s four goals: advance world-class research; foster commercialization; develop and sustain research infrastructure; and support the responsible… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Research,United StatesRegistration has opened for the National Nanotechnology Initiative’s (NNI) July 9, 2019, webinar, “Nanotechnology-Related Standards: Availability and Applications.” According to NNI, the development and use of nanotechnology-related standards is critical to ensuring validated measurements and methods to specify nanomaterial-containing products. NNI states that standards are also necessary for comparative evaluation and assessment of the environmental,… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,OECD,ResearchThe European Commission’s (EC) Joint Research Center (JRC) published a press release on June 6, 2019, regarding its contribution to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) development of Test Guidelines for the safety assessment of nanomaterials. According to the press release, scientists from JRC have actively participated in discussions of the OECD’s Working… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,ResearchThe International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has published standard ISO/TS 20660:2019, “Nanotechnologies — Antibacterial silver nanoparticles — Specification of characteristics and measurement methods.” The standard provides guidance for the specification of characteristics and relevant measurement methods for silver nanoparticles in powder or colloidal forms that are intended for antibacterial applications in nanotechnology. ISO states that… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,Legal/Regulatory Issues,OECD,ResearchThe Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has posted the following reports in its Series on the Safety of Manufactured Nanomaterials: Developments in Delegations on the Safety of Manufactured Nanomaterials — Tour de Table: The Tour de Table compiles information provided by delegations on the occasion of the 19th meeting of the OECD Working… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,Research,United StatesThe European Commission’s (EC) Joint Research Center (JRC) announced on May 10, 2019, publication of an article entitled “Measuring particle size distribution of nanoparticle enabled medicinal products, the joint view of EUNCL and NCI-NCL. A step by step approach combining orthogonal measurements with increasing complexity” in the April 10, 2019, issue of the Journal of… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in EU Member State,International,ResearchOn April 29, 2019, the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) announced InnoMat.Life, a joint research project to establish criteria for an efficient assessment of the human health and environmental risks of novel (nano) materials. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research is providing 2.22 million euro to fund the project, which will be… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,OECD,ResearchThe Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) April 2019 issue of its Chemical Safety and Biosafety Progress Report includes an update on OECD’s work to determine the safety of manufactured nanomaterials. The Report notes that the applicability of OECD Test Guidelines for nanomaterials continues to be a major concern of the work of the… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,Occupational Health and Safety Issues,ResearchThe International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has published standard ISO/TS 21361:2019, “Nanotechnologies — Method to quantify air concentrations of carbon black and amorphous silica in the nanoparticle size range in a mixed dust manufacturing environment.” The standard provides guidelines to quantify and identify particles of carbon black and/or amorphous silica in air samples collected in… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Legal/Regulatory Issues,Research,United StatesOn March 5-6, 2019, a workshop on “Fostering EU‐U.S. Cooperation in Nanosafety” was held. According to the workshop report, the workshop intended to answer two main questions: What should be the future research priorities in nanosafety and other advanced materials; and What are the opportunities for European Union (EU)‐U.S. cooperation priorities in nanosafety. The discussion… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Occupational Health and Safety Issues,Research,United StatesOn May 16, 2019, the American Chemical Society (ACS) will hold a webinar on working safely with nanomaterials in the laboratory. Chuck Geraci, Associate Director for Emerging Technologies at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), will moderate a panel including: Ken Kretchman, Director of Environmental Safety, NC State University; Craig Merlic, Professor… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,ResearchOn January 22-24, 2019, a Mexico-European Union (EU) workshop on nanosafety was held in Mexico. The aim of the workshop was to establish a stronger connection between the Mexican and European research communities within the context of bringing scientific information to the risk assessment, risk management, and policy levels. According to the workshop report, Mexico… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,ResearchThe International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has published standard ISO/TR 19733:2019, “Nanotechnologies — Matrix of properties and measurement techniques for graphene and related two-dimensional (2D) materials.” ISO states that since graphene was discovered in 2004, it has become one of the most attractive materials in application research and device industry due to its supreme material… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Occupational Health and Safety Issues,Research,United StatesRegistration is available for the National Nanotechnology Initiative’s (NNI) April 9, 2019, webinar on “Characterization and Quantification of Engineered Nanomaterials: Drivers of NanoEHS Research.” The speaker will be Dr. Robert MacCuspie, Natural Immunogenics Corp., and Dr. Debra Kaiser, National Institute of Standards and Technology, will moderate. The webinar will examine the significant progress in characterization… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Research,United StatesThe U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) published a March 19, 2019, Federal Register notice announcing that it will hold a public hearing on May 1, 2019, to receive views from all interested parties about the CPSC’s agenda and priorities for fiscal years (FY) 2020, which begins on October 1, 2019, and 2021, which begins… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Research,United StatesThe National Nanotechnology Initiative’s (NNI) 2019 public webinar series on the environmental, health, and safety effects of nanomaterials (nanoEHS) will begin on April 9, 2019, at 12:00 p.m. (EDT) with a presentation by Dr. Robert MacCuspie (Natural Immunogenics Corp.) on “Characterization and Quantification of Engineered Nanomaterials: Drivers of NanoEHS Research.” Upcoming webinars will include “Environmental,… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,Legal/Regulatory Issues,ResearchOn March 15, 2019, the European Commission’s (EC) Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) published its preliminary opinion on the solubility of synthetic amorphous silica (SAS). The EC asked whether the SCCS considers that SAS are soluble (100 milligram per liter (mg/L) or higher) or degradable/non-persistent in biological systems in light of the nanomaterial definition… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,Research,United StatesThe International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has published standard ISO/TR 21386, “Nanotechnologies — Considerations for the measurement of nano-objects and their aggregates and agglomerates (NOAA) in environmental matrices.” The standard provides some considerations for the collection of environmental samples to be analyzed for manufactured NOAA, considerations to distinguish manufactured NOAA from background levels of naturally… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,ResearchThe European Commission’s (EC) Joint Research Center (JRC) opens its scientific laboratories and facilities, including its Nanobiotechnology Laboratory, to people working in academia and research organizations, industry, and small and medium enterprises (SME). JRC opened a call on February 1, 2019, for the Nanobiotechnology Laboratory for the following priority topics: Nanomaterial characterization, including their interactions… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Research,United StatesThe National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO) announced on February 28, 2019, that it is planning a number of activities to celebrate the 15-year anniversary of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI). Upcoming events will include: Special anniversary episodes of “Stories from the NNI” podcast series. Experts from academia, government, and industry share their perspectives on key… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,ResearchThe February 2019 issue of the European Chemicals Agency’s (ECHA) Newsletter includes an interview with Eva Valsami-Jones, Professor of Environmental Nanoscience at the University of Birmingham and leader of the European Union (EU) NanoSafety Cluster Coordination Team, on research on the safety of nanomaterials. The NanoSafety Cluster coordinates the funding of research projects at the… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Research,United StatesOn February 21, 2019, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) posted a report entitled Science & Technology Highlights in the Second Year of the Trump Administration. The report highlights science and technology achievements, including the following under “R&D Fundamentals”: Supporting and celebrating key advances in nanotechnology. In December, OSTP’s National Nanotechnology… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,ResearchOn February 18, 2019, the European Union (EU) NanoSafety Cluster (NSC) announced that it is supporting the Malta Initiative by linking various projects with activities developed within the Malta Initiative. According to NSC’s website, the Malta Initiative began in 2017, when Germany approached the EU Directorate-General (DG) for Research and Innovation to request political and… Continue Reading
