How Nanoparticles Impact Human Health.

Nanoparticle News, December, 2005

Through a newly established four-year, $1.8-million National Science Foundation grant, Brown University scientists in an emerging field of environmental health are testing a variety of nanomaterials to see how they interact with human and animal cells. The aim is to find out which sizes, shapes, compounds and coatings damage or kill cells. On this basis the information can be used to manufacture non-toxic types.

"The question isn't whether nanomaterials are good or bad," says Robert Hurt, a Brown professor of engineering and the lead investigator on the project. "The question is which are toxic? Under what conditions? And can we make and purify them in different ways to avoid toxicity - to make 'green' nanomaterials?"

According to the Institute of...

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