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Posted by marialuisfernandes on

Watch RiskGONE partner presenting in European Researchers Night – Video

Watch RiskGONE partner presenting in European Researchers Night – Video

The European Researchers’ Night is a Europe-wide public event, that aims at displaying the diversity of science and its impact on citizens’ daily lives. This year, the event took place on Friday 24 September. Spread out across 29 countries, the vent brought European researchers together in several activities and events to promote research projects across Europe and shorten the gap between research and the general public.

RiskGONE partners participated in some of these events. In particular, CSIC was part of the programme in the Spanish city of Zaragoza, presenting a talk with the title ‘RiskGONE: Riesgos y Seguridad en Nanotecnología’ (RiskGONE: Risks and Safety in Nanotechnology), under the guise of the question ‘Are there any risks associated with the use of nanomaterials?’.

The talk explored the unexpectedly common presence of nanomaterials and their high impact on society, considering the physical characteristics of nanomaterials, such as particle size, their chemical nature, among others, influence their compatibility with organisms, their biodegradability, their accumulation and their toxic effects.

Additionally, the talk discussed RiskGone as a European project, made up of academic and scientific organizations, that proposes to evaluate the possible toxicological risks involved in the use of nanomaterials in order to subsequently work with governments to achieve legislation on the production, safety, use, containment and disposal of nanomaterials.

Watch the full recording of the presentation below!

Posted by ivocabral on

Video – Comet assay, step by step

The Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU), coordinator of RiskGONE, created a short video showing the main steps in conducting a comet assay, in order to assess the toxicity of nanomaterials.

One of the aims of the RiskGONE project is the verification, optimisation and development of methods for the characterization and human and eco-toxicological hazard assessment of ENMs (engineered nanomaterials). This is done through interlaboratory round robin exercises and training on selected methods. One of these methods is the Comet assay (single cell gel electrophoresis), a simple method used for measuring DNA damage in eukaryotic cells. The method is widely used for detection of strand breaks as well as specific DNA lesions, such as oxidized purines and pyrimidines, and is considered a useful method for genotoxicity testing in vitro as well as in vivo.

NILU provided RiskGONE partners with training on this method at a course that took place in February 2020, and in March 2021, through a practical online course/video learning due to the COVID-related restrictions. The video available below is part of the training material used in this course.

How the Comet Assay works

After exposure to the compound of interest (in this case, ENM), the cells are embedded in agarose on a microscope slide. After treatment with a detergent solution, membranes, cytoplasm, and most of the soluble cell contents are dissolved, and the DNA nucleoids are freed. The nucleoids are then subjected to an electrophoretic field, which makes the negatively charged DNA migrate towards the positive electrode-anode. DNA in the nucleoids is very compact and its movement is limited, but if a break is present in the DNA strands, the DNA loop is free to extend under the electrophoretic field and move towards the anode. When DNA is stained with specific dyes and examined microscopically, images resembling comets are seen; the comet tail consists of loops of DNA that, due to the presence of damage (strand break), have moved out from the nucleoid (comet head). The amount of DNA in the tail reflects the number of breaks in the DNA.

The standard comet assay measures single- and double-strand breaks. A modified version of the assay by inclusion of lesion-specific enzymes can detect specific DNA lesions, such as oxidized purines using formamidopyrimidine DNA glycosylase (Fpg).

Posted by ivocabral on

Comet Assay – Practical online course/video training by NILU

Comet Assay – Practical online course/video training by NILU

Making the gel drops: cells embedded in agarose are put on slides

Dates: 15th-19th March 2021

Location: remote/virtual

The Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU), coordinator of RiskGONE, is providing a practical online course/video learning on the Comet assay.

This training workshop represents the second edition of a series of trainings to be organised as part of RiskGONE`s training activities. The first edition of the course was physically held at NILU`s premises in Kjeller, Norway, on 17th-20th February 2020. Then, RiskGONE project partners joined the course from Swansea University, the University of Birmingham, and the University of Bergen, and they were trained on different assays for use with engineered nanomaterials.

This course welcomes participants from H2020 projects Twinalt and VISION, besides RiskGONE and the H2020-NMBP-13 network.

Due to the restrictions now imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the second edition of the course was re-arranged to a remote format. The course will take place for 5 days.

On the first day, the background and principles of the assay will be introduced in a series of lectures.

On the second day, the technical aspects of the assay will be presented. Part of the day will be dedicated to the planning of a real experiment. Trainees will have the opportunity to perform themselves in their own laboratory, with the constant support of the trainers.

On the following days, a hands-on experiment will be performed. In the morning, the daily work will be presented thought videos created at NILU, in which the trainers show how the experiment is performed step-by-step. In this phase, trainees will have the opportunity to interactive live with the trainers, ask questions and discuss the technical aspects of the experiment. In the afternoon, after viewing the videos, trainees will have the possibility to physically train on the experiment in their laboratory. All along, trainers will be available online to support trainees if needed.

Training materials, including the step-by-step videos, will be shared among all project partners and might also form the basis of teaching and training material to be used beyond the project course.

The training’s agenda can be accessed here

Posted by ivocabral on

RiskGONE partners take part in events across the continent on European Researchers Night – check the agenda!

RiskGONE partners take part in events across the continent on European Researchers Night – check the agenda!

European Union 2020

On 27 November 2020, researchers across Europe will meet the public (mostly online) and showcase their work through hands-on experiments, science shows, games, quizzes, competitions, exhibitions, and digital activities. It’s the European Researchers’ Night!

RiskGONE partners are participating in some of these important events, aimed to shorten the gap between research and the general public. We seek to raise awareness on how different kinds of nanomaterials are used in daily applications and how we can manage the risks that some of they may pose to the environment and human health.

Find the agenda below! 

 

27 November 2020

Dechema LIVE Session 1 (13:00-14:00 CET):

Deutsch: Sie möchten mehr über Nanomaterialien erfahren, wie sie in Produkten genutzt werden und  wie der Stand der Sicherheitsforschung zu Nanomaterialien ist? Dann besuchen Sie unsere Veranstaltung, hören sie einen Fachvortrag von Dr. Christoph Steinbach (Dechema), nehmen Sie an einem Quiz teil und diskutieren Sie live mit Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftlern über die Themen, die Ihnen am Herzen liegen.

Zugangslink (Plattform Zoom):  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86964499249?pwd=WFRER0phcmVGMlU5Ry8vTTEwS2puZz09

English: Would you like to learn more about nanomaterials, how they are used in products and what the state of safety research on nanomaterials is about? Then visit our event, listen to a lecture by Dr. Christoph Steinbach (Dechema), take part in a quiz and discuss live with scientists about the topics you are interested in.

Access link (Zoom platform): https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86964499249?pwd=WFRER0phcmVGMlU5Ry8vTTEwS2puZz09

 

Dechema LIVE Session 2 (18:00-19:00 CET):

Deutsch: Sie möchten mehr über Nanomaterialien erfahren, wie sie in Produkten genutzt werden und  wie der Stand der Sicherheitsforschung zu Nanomaterialien ist? Dann besuchen Sie unsere Veranstaltung, hören sie einen Fachvortrag von Dr. Christoph Steinbach (Dechema), nehmen Sie an einem Quiz teil und diskutieren Sie live mit Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftlern über die Themen, die Ihnen am Herzen liegen.

Zugangslink (Plattform Zoom):  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88063302206?pwd=TGI4ZVdIU2ZxYmZNaUhvS1FIRWtZZz09

English: Would you like to learn more about nanomaterials, how they are used in products and what the state of safety research on nanomaterials is about? Then visit our event, listen to a lecture by Dr. Christoph Steinbach (Dechema), take part in a quiz and discuss live with scientists about the topics you are interested in.

Access link (Zoom platform): https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88063302206?pwd=TGI4ZVdIU2ZxYmZNaUhvS1FIRWtZZz09

 

CSIC/Universidad de Zaragoza (physical event in Zaragoza, Spain)

La noche investigación 2021

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.es/e/entradas-investiga-la-nanociencia-130232032515

 

More events by NANORIGO, RiskGONE partner project, at ERN

27 November 

At 18.30 (CET), Scotland’s ERN Explorathon is featuring  Making Nano Work for Us – a NANORIGO video and family quiz hosted by  OPTIMAT with Mark Morrison.

https://tinyurl.com/nanorigo-explorathon

 

  • The NANORIGO video is also featuring on the Scottish Research Showcase at 14.00 (CET) [@EU_NANORIGO]

 

Discussions will go about nanoscience and health:

–        What makes SARS-CoV-2 successful?

–        Viruses are biologic nanoparticles

–        What is nano and where do we find it?

–        Can nano fight Covid?

–        How safe is nano and who cares?

 

More events by Gov4Nano, RiskGONE partner project, at ERN

1.‘Life is Science‘ event: Nanotechnologie – Wie sicher sind die Produkte und wer entscheidet das? – Life is Science

  1. https://www.wissenschafftzukunft-kiel.de/nacht-der-wissenschaft/programm-2020/veranstaltung2020.html?tx_ncwzkndwevents_events%5Bevent%5D=1101&tx_ncwzkndwevents_events%5Baction%5D=show&tx_ncwzkndwevents_events%5Bcontroller%5D=Event&cHash=11c42c9359bdf366e1298a295eb886b2

 

And find here some of the materials produced for this special day!

 

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Join us in the Nanosafety Training School: From Basic Science To Risk Governance

Join us in the Nanosafety Training School: From Basic Science To Risk Governance

The training school will take place on 20-25 June 2021 in San Servolo island, in Venice, Italy.

The School week will include a variety of hands-on sessions aimed to transfer state-of-the-art knowledge on a variety of topics from key experts to the new generation of nano-environmental, health and safety, and biomedicine professionals, using interprofessional education.

About the School

This year the Venice Nano Training School celebrates its 10th anniversary.

The School will feature keynote speeches, hands-on sessions and a dedicated Young Scientist Forum Day during which early career researchers (PhD students, PhD candidates and Post-Docs) will have the opportunity to present their work.

The School week will include a variety of hands-on sessions aimed to transfer state-of-the-art knowledge on a variety of topics from key experts to the new generation of nano-environmental, health and safety, and biomedicine professionals, using interprofessional education.

A variety of networking activities (a special 10th anniversary welcome cocktail, social event and a social dinner) will enable plenty of time and opportunities for you to widen your network and foster academic exchange.

Become part of an interactive, exciting week and enrich your knowledge by developing multidisciplinary expertise!

 

Who should attend?

  • Early-stage researchers
  • PhD students and Post-Docs
  • Senior researchers
  • Industry
  • Governmental Agencies
  • Medical Personnel
  • Anyone interested in Safe Nanotechnology, Risk Assessment and Nano-Medicine

School Topics

  • Hazard to Human Health & Environment
  • Fate & Exposure Assessment
  • Nanomedicine: from the lab to the market
  • Modelling
  • Grouping & Read Across Approaches
  • Risk Governance

 

More Information about the Young Scientist Forum Day

Early career researchers will have the opportunity to present their work in the form of oral and poster presentations. You can choose between the following themes:

State of the art approaches and challenges towards nanomaterial characterisation
Strategies towards testing ENM toxicology (human and environmental)
Modelling approaches towards ENM toxicology
Risk assessment and legal regulation of ENM
Approaches towards defining human and environmental exposure to EN

 

School Location

The training school will take place in San Servolo (Venice, Italy).

 

School Certificates

Each participant will be given a Certificate of attendance upon request.

 

Further information and updates available here. 

 

Contacts

Scientific enquiries:

Danail Hristozov, GreenDecision (Italy) | danail.hristozov@greendecision.eu

Stella Stoycheva, Yordas Group (UK) | s.stoycheva@yordasgroup.com

Susanne Resch, BioNanoNet (Austria) | susanne.resch@bionanonet.at

Logistics, local support and administration:

Paola Basso, GreenDecision (Italy) | management@greendecision.eu

 

Sponsors

GreenDecision (Venice, IT)

Institute of Occupational Medicine (Edinburgh, UK)

Yordas Group (Forchheim, DE)

Warrant Hub S.p.A (Casalecchio di Reno, IT)

BioNanoNet Forschungsgesellschaft mbH (Graz, AT)

NC3RS (London, UK)

Aarhus University (Aarhus, DK)

RIVM (Utrecht, NL)

NILU (Kjeller, NO)

These projects have received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 760928 (BIORIMA), No 814401 (Gov4Nano), No 760840 (GRACIOUS), No 814426 (NanoInformaTIX), No 814530 (NANORIGO), No 760813 (PATROLS), and No 814425 (RiskGONE).

 

 

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Webinar recording: identifying health hazards with AOPs – watch it anytime!

Webinar recording: identifying health hazards with AOPs – watch it anytime!

On 5th June, RiskGONE held its second webinar, attended by more than 40 participants. This time project partners focused the discussion on how to use Adverse Outcome Pathways (AOPs), a risk-assessment method, to analyse the possible hazards nanomaterials can pose to human health.

Experts from KU Leuven (Belgium), the Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health (Croatia) and the QSAR lab (Poland) explained how they are applying this method to tracing nanomaterials risks.

AOPs could help researchers find negative effects from nanomaterials more efficiently, and reduce the need for animal testing. So, how do AOPs work in practice? The idea behind is that researchers create pathways that link a first event observable at molecular level with subsequent effects in the human body and the final problems they can pose to human health, which can be as serious as cancer, neurodegeneration or decreased fertility.

These pathways are living documents that can be accessed online through the AOP Wiki website and be modified as fresh evidence reveals new or different effects of nanomaterials in human health. The AOPs system is a tool launched by the OECD in 2012 to systematically assess toxicological risks in chemicals. Researchers in the RiskGONE project propose using these AOPs to map possible hazards in using nanomaterials too.

Eager to know more? We have recorded the webinar for you! Simply click on the links below to watch the webinar sections of your interest:

 

Access all the presentation slides from speakers here. 

Posted by piamarina on

Webinar on nanotechnology risk-assessment method AOP – register now!

Webinar on nanotechnology risk-assessment method AOP – register now!

Nanotechnologies have useful applications, but do present risks, such as toxicity or flammability under some conditions. The RiskGONE project is researching on how to assess hazards using Adverse Outcome Pathways (AOPs), a risk-assessment method used to analyse how biological events may lead to adverse effects.

Using AOPs is common for assessing hazards posed by chemicals, but not yet for nanomaterials. Therefore, RiskGONE researchers work to adapt this kind of methods to be used in testing risks in new nano-based technologies.

Are you a nanomaterial student, or an engineer? Just interested in these developments? RiskGONE experts are holding a webinar on 5 June at 12.30pm (Brussels Time). They will go in detail on how to use AOPs to assess risks in new nanotechnology applications.

On the programme:

  • Introduction of the AOP together with brief description of OECD-sponsored AOP Knowledge base (AOP-KB), by Dr. Ivana Vinković Vrček, Analytical Toxicology and Mineral Metabolism Unit, Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb (Croatia).
  • Overview of a systematic literature search summarizing existing AOPs for nanomaterials, as performed in riskGONE project and examples on how to generate a testable hypothesis for AO of nanomaterials from chemical AOPs, by Prof. Peter Hoet and Mr. Sivakumar Murugadoss, Laboratory of Toxicology, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, KU Leuven (Belgium).
  • Introduction and discussion over the concept of quantitative structure activity relationship (QSAR), by Dr. Karolina Jagiello, QSAR lab, Gdańsk (Poland)
  • Open discussion

Registrations are open to everyone! To attend, just fill in this form.

 

Posted by piamarina on

Webinar recording – your chance to catch up anytime!

Webinar recording – your chance to catch up anytime!

Our first webinar brought together the expertise of leading RiskGONE project partners in order to explain how we go about our mission to improve risk governance of engineered nanomaterials and how interested stakeholders can get involved.

We have recorded the webinar for you so that you can get back to it anytime. Simply click on the links below to watch the webinar sections of your interest!

Posted by piamarina on

One year into our work – face to face meeting in Iceland

One year into our work – face to face meeting in Iceland

The 3rd RiskGONE project meeting took place in Reykjavik, Iceland on 6-7 February. The face to face meeting with representatives of all consortium partners marked one year of activity since the project kicked off in January 2019.

Looking back at the project’s first year, partners came together to advance in their efforts to provide solid procedures for science-based risk governance of nanomaterials. The meeting was organised together with two other H2020 projects: the infrastructure project NanoCOMMONS and NMBP14 project NanoSolveIT.

RiskGONE partners shared updates on their risk governance research and their approach to risk-benefit analysis which will shape the design of the Risk Governance Council to be established. In addition the current state of tools for nanomaterials risk assessment were presented. The tools are being developed based on characterisation of ENMs and human and eco-toxicological hazard assessment in order to identify with better certainty the environmental and human health impacts of a number of nanomaterials. The results of tests using these tools will then be integrated into the work of the European Risk Governance Council.

The meeting hosted the second edition of a joint workshop on Data Management, Adverse Outcome Pathways and Dissemination organised by RiskGONE together with NanoCOMMONS and NanoSolveIT.

Getting together all partners and work package leaders also served to discuss the harmonisation of ongoing activities with H2020 projects NANORIGO and Gov4Nano, together with which RiskGONE is working to build a robust, long-term Risk Governance Framework and Council to guide the safe and transparent governance of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs).

Would you like to find out more about where the RiskGONE project stands and hear updates from project partners directly? Listen in to our webinar on 19 March – you can register here.

Are you searching for answers or would like to find out more about our activities? Our public forum is open for all of you and enables you to ask questions and engage with other interested stakeholders.

Stay up to date on our activities, have a regular looks at our news and follow us on LinkedIn.

 

About the Project
RiskGONE is an EU H2020 project aiming at providing solid procedures for science-based risk governance of nanomaterials, based on a clear understanding of risks and risk management practices.

Posted by piamarina on

Reading recommendation: Nanoregulation along the product life cycle

Reading recommendation: Nanoregulation along the product life cycle

Are you interested in staying up to date regarding scientific publications relevant to the field of nanomaterials and our work for better risk governance? We are happy to share an article of interest with you! Take a look at “Nanoregulation along the product life cycle in the EU, Switzerland, Thailand, the USA, and intergovernmental organisations, and its compatibility with WTO law” published in Toxicological & Environmental Chemistry.

The main finding of the article is that regulating nanosafety and labelling of nanoproducts is most probably compatible with World Trade Organisation law.

The RiskGONE partners will share interesting publications with you on a regular basis. Visit our resource area and take a look at our website updates and LinkedIn channel to stay up to date.

About the Project

RiskGONE is an EU H2020 project aiming at providing solid procedures for science-based risk governance of nanomaterials, based on a clear understanding of risks and risk management practices.