The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS),
part of the National Institutes of Health, is increasing its
investment in understanding the potential health, safety and
environmental issues related to tiny particles that are used in
many everyday products such as sunscreens, cosmetics and
electronics. The NIEHS will award about $13 million over a two-year
period, through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, to
bolster the NIEHS’s ongoing research portfolio in the area of
engineered nanomaterials (ENMs).
Engineered nanomaterials are very tiny materials about 100,000
times smaller than a single strand of hair. They represent a
significant breakthrough in material design and development for
industry and consumer products, including stain-resistant clothing,
pesticides, tires, and electronics, as well as in medicine for
purposes of diagnosis, imaging and drug delivery.
“We currently know very little about nanoscale materials’ effect
on human health and the environment,” said Linda Birnbaum, Ph.D.,
director of the NIEHS and the National Toxicology Program (NTP), an
interagency program for the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services. “Nanomaterials come in so many shapes and sizes, with
each one having different chemical properties and physical and
surface characteristics. They are tricky materials to get a handle
on. The same properties that make nanomaterials so potentially
beneficial in drug delivery and product development are some of the
same reasons we need to be cautious about their presence in the
environment.”
The NIEHS has awarded 13 new two-year grants through the
Recovery Act to develop better methods to assess exposure and
health effects associated with nanomaterials. Ten of the grants
were awarded through the NIH Grand Opportunities program announced
in March 2009
https://www.niehs.nih.gov/recovery/nanomaterial-go.cfm, and three
were funded from the NIH Challenge Grants program. All 13 are aimed
at developing reliable tools and approaches to determine the impact
on biological systems and health outcomes of engineered
materials.
The new awards focus on ensuring that we have reliable and
reproducible methods and models to assess exposure, exposure
metrics, and biological response to nanomaterials. This research is
also essential for the harmonization of research results and
forming a scientifically sound basis for hazard assessment, as well
as the safe design and development of ENMs.
“There are inconsistencies in the biological effects of ENMs
reported in the scientific literature, and a major reason for this
is lack of detailed characterization of the physical and chemical
properties of the ENMs used in these studies,” said Sri Nadadur,
Ph.D., program administrator at the NIEHS. “One of our goals is to
identify three or four reliable and reproducible test methods using
the same ENMs by investigators across different labs.”
To accomplish this, the NIEHS brought 36 investigators together
on Oct. 20, 2009 in North Carolina, where the NIEHS is
headquartered, to identify ENMs, assays and test systems to be
utilized in these investigations in a more coordinated and
integrated effort.
The NIEHS is establishing an integrated program that will narrow
its focus to identify the best methods to evaluate the health
effects of nanomaterials through use of cell cultures and animal
systems. After the initial meeting, grantees will meet face-to-face
twice a year to share information, evaluate progress and determine
next steps.
“Recovery Act funds have allowed us to expand our efforts in
this important area,” said Sally Tinkle, Ph.D., senior science
sdvisor at the NIEHS. “We want to be sure that we come away with
some better tools to assess the health and safety of
nanomaterials.” This NIEHS effort focused on nanomaterials supports
the goals identified by the National Nanotechnology Initiative
Strategy for Nanotechnology-related Environmental, Health, and
Safety Research.
In addition to Recovery Act funding, the NIEHS supports grantees
across the country working on issues related to nanotechnology. The
NIEHS extramural activities are focused on three main areas:
- The application of nanotechnologies in environmental health
research through use of nanomaterials to improve measurements of
exposure to other environmental factors, enabling research into the
biological effects of exposures and improving therapeutic
strategies to reverse the harmful effects of environmental
exposures. - Understanding the risks associated with accidental or
intentional exposure to nanomaterials. - Through the Superfund Research Program which authorizes NIH to
fund university-based research to conduct the science needed for
human health risk assessment and decision-making for remediation of
hazardous waste sites, researchers across the country are looking
at both the application of nanomaterials for environmental
monitoring and remediation, and the health implications associated
with their application.
On November 4, 2009, the NIEHS announced a new funding
opportunity to address the potential health implications of ENMs.
The Request for Applications entitled Engineered Nanomaterials:
Linking Physical and Chemical Properties to Biology can be found at
https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-ES-09-011.html.
The NIEHS also administers the National Toxicology Program,
which is researching the potential human health hazards associated
with the manufacture and use of nanomaterials.
The 10 Recovery Act NIH Grand Opportunities grants focusing on
engineered nanomaterial safety have been awarded to:
- James Christopher Bonner, North Carolina State University,
Raleigh - Edward David Crandall, University of Southern California, Los
Angeles - Alison Cory Pearson Elder and Gunter Oberdorster, University of
Rochester, N.Y. - Andrij Holian, University of Montana, Missoula
- Andre Elias Nel, University of California, Los Angeles
- Galya Orr, Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratories, Richland,
Wash. - Christopher D. Vulpe, University of California, Berkeley
- Paul K. Westerhoff, Arizona State University, Tempe
- Frank A. Witzmann and Somenath Mitra, Indiana University,
Indianapolis - Robert M. Worden, Michigan State University, East Lansing
The three Recovery Act Nanotechnology NIH Challenge Grants have
been awarded to:
- Kent E. Pinkerton, University of California, Davis
- Timothy R. Nurkiewicz, West Virginia University,
Morgantown - Wynne K. Schiffer, Feinstein Institute for Medical Research,
Manhasset, N.Y.
The NIEHS also used Recovery Act funds to support efforts under
its Superfund Research Program to determine ways to apply
nanotechnology to better detect and evaluate effects on human
health, and clean up Superfund chemicals in the environment. The
Superfund Worker Education Training Program also provided Recovery
Act funding targeting health and safety training.
