Nano GO Consortium—A Team Science Approach to Assess Engineered Nanomaterials: Reliable Assays and Methods

Two articles in this issue of Environmental Health Perspectives—by Xia et al. (2013) and Bonner et al. (2013)—report results of a unique col-laborative approach to environmental health research. The consortium behind these studies (the Nano GO Consortium), which is developing standardized methods for assessing the health and safety implications of engineered nano materials (ENMs), represents a new model of shared science that may offer lessons for other emerging and fast-evolving areas of research. ENMs (man-made particles with any external dimension between 1 and 100 nm) have enabled considerable advances in electronics, drugs and medical devices, environmental remediation, and many other areas (Kessler 2011). They are fast becoming ubiquitous in products such as sunscreens, cosmetics, clothing, and building materials. Global demand for nano materials and nano-enabled devices is expected to approach $3.1 trillion by 2015 (Marquis et al. 2009). As the production and use of ENMs grows, there are increased opportunities for ENMs to interact with biological systems. The physi cal, chemical, and biological characteristics of ENMs that make them useful for so many applications also make them potentially hazardous for living systems. The unique properties stemming from their small dimensions, such as high reactivity, large surface area, and the tunable nature of their optical, electrical, and magnetic properties, differentiate them from other materials in fundamental ways. The vast and expanding array of ENMs entering the environment could present health risks to researchers, workers, and consumers. Although researchers have made progress in understanding biological responses to nanomaterials, the risks of exposure are not sufficiently understood to allow develop ment of science-based risk assessment guidelines to support regulatory decision making (Maynard et al. 2006). There is a need to examine nano material exposure, absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion and to relate ENM properties to biological responses at the cellular, tissue, and whole-organism level. Determining the health effects of ENMs presents some unique challenges. The thousands of ENMs in use today are made from an enormous range of substances, vary considerably in size, and take a diversity of shapes, including spheres, cubes, cones, tubes, and other forms. They are also produced in different laboratories across the world using a variety of methods. In the scientific literature, findings on the properties and toxicity of these materials are mixed and often difficult to compare across studies. To improve the reliability and reproduc-ibility of data in this area, there is a need for uniform research protocols …