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NANOGENOTOX Final conference

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Written by Florence ETORE | 28 February 2013

The final conference of NANOGENOTOX took place on Friday 22 February 2013 and was hosted by the French Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, in Paris, France. It gathered around 200 participants from all over Europe and beyond, including partners of the Joint Action.

The results of each WP were presented and discussed in the morning sessions. In the afternoon, a presentation summarizing the considerations to achieve a robust method for testing the genotoxicity of MNs was made, followed by discussions with the audience (see agenda). Particular efforts were made during the panel discussion and in the conclusions and perspectives by policy makers to examine how this method can be taken up and followed upon within REACH or other regulatory mechanisms.

As policy makers, the OECD WPMN and the EC DG SANCO representatives confirmed that the results and lessons coming out from NANOGENOTOX can be built upon for risk assessment and risk management purposes. Existing frameworks and guidelines are applicable for nanomaterials but some particular test guidelines have to be examined closely and may need to be updated or replaced. The concerns identified in the NANOGENOTOX findings are shared by the EC Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS).

To view the presentations from this meeting, click on the following pictures.

 

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wp5               wp6

 

wp7               wp3

 

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Stakeholders workshop

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Written by Florence ETORE | 28 June 2012

The first NANOGENOTOX Stakeholders Workshop was held on 3 May 2012 in Brussels hosted by the Institute of Public Health (Belgium)
The aims of this workshop were:
puce-ronde To inform the stakeholders of the preliminary results and latest scientific progress of the Action
puce-ronde To provide a forum for discussion between scientific partners of the JA and stakeholders
puce-ronde To share experts knowledge and experiences about the critical issues specific for the genotoxicity assessment of nanomaterials in a regulatory context
puce-ronde To network with experts
The workshop involved about 70 participants, from the partners of the Joint Action, industry, government, NGOs, and academia. During this half-day meeting the scientific workpackage leaders informed participants on the latest scientific progress in Nanogenotox.
To view the presentations from this meeting, click on the following pictures.
 
cover-wp1           cover-wp3

 

  cover-wp4          cover-wp5

 

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The plenary session was followed by a panel discussion with five speakers: Steffi Friedrichs (NIA), Andrej Kobe (DG Environment), Hartwig Muhle (BUND), Aida Ponce (ETUI), Michael Riediker (NanoImpactNet). These speakers represented the main categories of stakeholders: EU risk assessors and policy makers, scientific community, professional federations representing companies, NGOs. The discussions focused on two topics: first, on the technical and scientific aspects of the results, and second, on knowledge transfer and dissemination of these results (both on technical aspects but also regarding relevance for policy making).

Click on the picture below to view the report from this consultation

 

couverture rapport

The final project conference will be organised in Paris in February 2013 and will be available to all interested stakeholders.

 

 

 

Fourth General Assembly meeting - May 2-4, 2012 - Brussels (Belgium)

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Written by Florence ETORE | 20 June 2012

The NANOGENOTOX fourth General Assembly meeting took place in Brussels (Belgium) and was hosted by the Institute of Public Health ( IPH, Belgium) on May 2 to 4, 2012. All the partners of the Joint Action were present.

puce-ronde The first day started with WP1 (Coordination) presenting the JA’s finances for the second year as well as the reporting requirements for the second interim implementation report, to be submitted to the Executive Agency for Health and Consumers ( EAHC). Then WP4 (Characterisation) presented its results. WP4 finalized the primary physico-chemical characterization of the NANOGENOTOX test materials and started to prepare their final deliverable reports. As part of the final work analysis of vial-to-vial and intra/vial sample homogeneity was completed (using TEM, XRD, DLS and TGA analysis). The status and results on TiO2 and SiO2 have been shared with the OECD WPMN Sponsorship programme. The first scientific paper has been published and two additional papers are under review.
In the afternoon, WP2 (Dissemination) presented an update of the tools available for the dissemination of the project and its results tools that are continuously improved. Some partners presented communications during scientific meetings and most of these communications were uploaded on the website. A discussion time was then set up within WP7 (Toxicokinetic and biodistribution) and the partners discussed the work progress and exchanged ideas regarding the methodologies applied and results obtained. Two break-out sessions followed this discussion one for WP7 partners only, and another one for WP3 with the members of the internal evaluation team.
puce-ronde The morning of the second day was dedicated to the WP5 (in vitro genotoxicity testing). In this workpackage, partners needed to agree on the protocols for the Round Robin test, based on the results from comet and micronucleus assay that were obtained during the first phase of WP5.
In the afternoon, all the partners of the JA were present at the Stakeholders workshop.

puce-ronde The third day started with some presentations of the work done in WP6 (in vivo genotoxicity testing): training for the partners to share their experience and choice of the positive controls to be used in the experiments. This session was followed by a discussion between the partners in order to clarify the methodology to be applied in WP6 for the coming months. In the afternoon, each scientific WP leader presented an update of the WP’s work progress as well as a feedback of the different discussions that occurred during this General Assembly meeting.

The GA ended on may 4, 2012 and the next NANOGENOTOX General Assembly should be held on October 10 to 12 2012, in Lisbon (Portugal), hosted by the National Health Institute Doutor Ricardo Jorge ( INSA).

We would like to thank the IPH who kindly hosted this meeting, making this event very successful as well as all the partners for their participation!

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Third General Assembly meeting - October 12-14, 2011 - Copenhagen (Denmark)

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Written by florence | 24 January 2012

The NANOGENOTOX third General Assembly meeting involving all partners took place in Copenhagen (Denmark) hosted by the Nationale research Centre for the Working Environment ( NRCWE) on October 12, 13  and 14, 2011.

We would like to thank the NRCWE who kindly hosted this meeting, making this event very successful as well as all the partners for their participation!

NRCWE

 

puce-ronde The next NANOGENOTOX General Assembly will be held in May 2012, in Brussels (Belgium) hosted by the Institute of Public Health ( IPH).

Nanogenotox progress

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Written by Nanogenotox WP2 | 10 June 2011

 

NANOGENOTOX is progressing well. In May 2011, the first interim technical and financial report was sent to the EAHC (puce-fleche see WP1). The first internal evaluation of the Joint Action was carried out and it was included in the EAHC report (puce-fleche see WP3).

The report Standard Operating Procedures for characterisation of the selected MN types was delivered in May 2011 and the report Final protocol for producing suitable MN exposure media as well as the report Intermediate MN data sets with requested physicochemical properties will be delivered in June 2011 (puce-fleche see WP4).

Cell lines are now chosen for the in-vitro testing (16 HBE, BEAS 2B, A549, Caco-2, reconstructed human epidermis, primary human lymphocytes etc.), partners agreed on positive controls and protocols. Experiments started with the aim establishing a standard procedure from the most promising in vitro genotoxicity approach to assess assay variability before the end of the year (puce-fleche see WP5).

For toxicokinetics studies, protocols were finalized and acute toxicity studies have started. Methodologies for detection of Ti and Si in tissue samples were developed and CNTs were successfully labelled with a radiolabel 14C (puce-fleche see WP7).

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