Towards safe and sustainable innovation in nanotechnology: State-of-play for smart nanomaterials

Abstract

The European Green Deal, the European Commission's new Action Plan for a Circular Economy, the new European Industrial Strategy and the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability launched in October 2020 are ambitious plans to achieve a sustainable, fair and inclusive European Union's economy. In line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030, these policies require that any new material or product should be not only functional and cost-effective but also safe and sustainable to ensure compliance with regulation and acceptance by consumers. Nanotechnology is one of the technologies that could enable such a green growth. This paper focuses on advanced nanomaterials that actively respond to external stimuli, also known as ‘smart nanomaterials’, and which are already on the market or in the research and development phase for non-medical applications such as in agriculture, food, food packaging and cosmetics. A review shows that smart nanomaterials and enabled products may present new challenges for safety and sustainability assessment due to their complexity and dynamic behaviour. Moreover, existing regulatory frameworks, in particular in the European Union, are probably not fully prepared to address them. What is missing today is a systematic and comprehensive approach that allows for considering sustainability aspects hand in hand with safety considerations very early on at the material design stage. We call on innovators, scientists and authorities to further develop and promote the ‘Safe- and Sustainable-by-Design’ concept in nanotechnology and propose some initiatives to go into this direction.

Sustainable Coatings on Metallic Alloys as a Nowadays Challenge

“…Compared to the older approach, which focused on measures applied retroactively, this approach would ideally be employed in the first steps of development, rather than once the process is started. However, improvements in reducing the risk for humans and the environment can still be achieved even in the later stages [28][29][30].…”

Advances in Non-Animal Testing Approaches towards Accelerated Clinical Translation of Novel Nanotheranostic Therapeutics for Central Nervous System Disorders

“…As the review of Singh and colleagues [207] highlights, the need for superior algorithms will only be met by interdisciplinary collaboration of computer scientists and researchers. The contribution of computational methods would arguably be two-fold in expediting the drug discovery process and, moreover, would aid in shifting the regulatory framework by rapid nanotoxicity evaluation and demonstration of biocompatibility [216]. Integrating in vitro and in silico methodologies to reduce animal testing would thus, as a prerequisite, require superior algorithms that incorporate active transport-mediated mechanisms in the model and facilitate generation of de novo nanotherapeutics with desirable BBB properties.…”

“…Despite the prevalence of the "valley of death" in nanotheranostic neuropharmaceutical development [216], a number of exceptional agents have demonstrated multifunctionality and versatility in indication with promising results. It is arguable that with more widespread adoption of in vitro modelling platforms for conducting transport and biocompatability studies, this number is set to increase [14].…”

The Impact of Surface Chemistry on Gold Nanorods Uptake in Stem Cell-derived Therapeutic Cells

“…For TEM imaging, 500,000 BHK cells were plated into 24-well culture plates and treated with 5x10 5 AuNR, #8, 9, 0, and 1 untreated well for 24 h. Cells were washed 3x with 1x 10 mM PBS pH 7.4, dissociated with 0.25% trypsin, centrifuged, and fixed with 4% PFA. For visualization of nanoparticle uptake in cells, specimens were prepared via microwave fixation and traditional embedding in Eponate 12 (Ted Pella; Redding CA).…”