Nanotox: Gene Expression Profiling of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes: A Unique Safety Assessment Approach

Project Information

Principal Investigator	Mary Jane Cunningham
Institution	Houston Advanced Research Center
Project URL	View
Relevance to Implications	High
Class of Nanomaterial	Engineered Nanomaterials
Impact Sector	Human Health
Broad Research Categories	Hazard Risk Assessment
NNI identifier

Funding Information

Country	USA
Anticipated Total Funding	$300,000.00
Annual Funding	$150,000.00
Funding Source	NSF
Funding Mechanism	Extramural
Funding Sector	Government
Start Year	2005
Anticipated End Year	2007

Abstract/Summary

There is increasing concern about potential adverse effects of engineered nanoparticles (NP) on the environment and on human health. Engineered nanomaterials will be exposed to human cells in vitro and their toxicity will be assessed using the innovative technology of high throughput gene expression microarrays. There are four main objectives: a) to compile reproducible gene expression profiles of primary human lung cells exposed to single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT), b) to apply different tiers of computational analysis to determine if toxicity is present, c) to compare across biological tissues with previous data from human skin cells (obtained with NSF SGER award) and d) to lay the foundation for a “systems biology” approach for predictive toxicity by merging traditional risk assessment methods with new toxicogenomics computational methods.