| Grant number: | 15/20725-5 |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral |
| Start date: | March 01, 2017 |
| End date: | October 31, 2019 |
| Field of knowledge: | Health Sciences - Pharmacy - Toxicological Analysis |
| Principal Investigator: | Fernando Barbosa Júnior |
| Grantee: | Joseph Adewuyi Adeyemi |
| Host Institution: | Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Ribeirão Preto (FCFRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil |
| Associated scholarship(s): | 17/21185-0 - Mass spectrometry based techniques for in vivo quantification of fate and effects of engineered nanoparticles, BE.EP.PD |
Abstract Nanotechnology is undergoing an explosive expansion, with more than 1000 nanoproducts already in the market. Emerging biomedical applications of Manufactured Nanomaterials (NMs) include their exploitation as biosensors or drug-delivery agents, often coated with bioconjugates such as DNA and proteins to target specific cell types. However, the same properties that make NMs so attractive may also contribute to their toxicological profile in biological systems. NMs have greater surface area per mass compared to the raw material, rendering them more reactive and potentially more toxic in the cellular environment. In fact, concerns about the carcinogenic potential of NMs have been justified by observations that they display higher toxicity in rodents than equal mass doses of their non-ultrafine counterparts and are tumorigenic in rodents after high dose exposures. Since toxicity testing in animals is extremely expensive and should be reduced for undeniable ethical reasons, it becomes important to find alternative methods to test NMs' toxicity.Toxicological studies focused on the growing number of NMs become even more relevant considering that presently no clear guidelines are available for their testing/evaluation. To fill this gap, several new initiatives such as Tox21 have begun to utilize in vitro models and a variety of new technologies to develop in vitro signatures predictive of in vivo response. To answer this emergent need, and following the current trends, the major scientific objectives proposed here will be i) gathering toxicological data for several NMs based on current cytological/genotoxic assays; ii) identifying cellular stress response pathways and their key endpoints/proteins; and iii) generating a knowledgebase with relevant information regarding NMs' diversity and cellular toxicity to retrieve protein signatures associated with the toxicological effects of NMs. Based on this results, we expect to contribute for further development of new high-throughput testing strategies that could be used for risk assessment at industry and legislator level. (AU) | |
| News published in Agência FAPESP Newsletter about the scholarship: | |
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