I visited the University of Gdańsk (Gdańsk, Poland) between 20.09.2012 and 17.11.2012. As a theoretical chemist I worked under Work Package 3 (Development of novel structural descriptors for nanoparticles) of the project.
The primary aim of my work in UG was estimation of modified SiRMS descriptors for applicable nanoparticles’ description and development novel technique for risk assesment of nanoparticles. Because of my dissertation’s topic is very similar to major topic of third Work Package, I just had some results before my secondement was started. So, I can divide my work in UG into three parts. read more >>
I visited the National Institute for Environmental Studies in Tsukuba, Japan from 23.07.2012 till 18.08.2012 as a part of Work Package 2 “Carrying out experiments to produce necessary (missing) data for NPs”. During this time I evaluated suitability of NF-kappa B responsive element to study toxic potential of NPs. I treated the CHO-NF-kappa B cells with different NPs (selected dendrimers and fullerenes (both soluble and insoluble in water) and multi walled carbon nanotubes). The solubility of NPs and behaviour in conditions of in vitro experiment with the cells were tested. I also acquainted with fluorescence microscopic method as a tool for detection of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in cells exposed to chemicals in the context of future application in study of the effect of NPs to the mammalian cells.
Between June 15th and August 5th, 2012 I visited Computational Research Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley, USA). The secondement was conducted within Work Package 3: Development of novel structural descriptors for nanoparticles.
The research work was focused on developing the concept of porosity descriptors for nanomaterials. As hypothesized in the paper by Oberdoster et al. 2005, toxic properties of nanoparticles might be related to many structural features including size, size distribution, agglomeration state, shape, structure-dependent electronic configuration, surface area and chemistry, surface charge, crystal structure and porosity. In Nano-QSAR studies, those features should be numerically expressed by structural descriptors. In currently published contributions reporting Nano-QSARs, the least explored types of the descriptors are those of material’s porosity. Because of that, together with the host we are decided to start the investigations from creating a conceptual framework for developing such kind of the descriptors. This task is related to the TASK 3.1 in the project proposal and Description of Work (Annex I of the Grant Agreement). In addition, since the novel descriptors for nanomaterials will be in future put together and presented as a database, I was familiarizing myself with structures of the existing databases currently provided by CRD LBNL. read more >>
From 2-3 April 2012, the nanoBRIDGES project held a kick-off meeting in Gdańsk, Poland.
Eight of ten Partner Organizations attended the meeting, representing almost all of the project Partners.
The kick-off meeting held 2 days session. During the first day of the session, the Work Package Leaders presented their organizations and ideas and expectations for the Work Packages (WPs). The Project Leader also familiarized the Partners with the management structures and 7th Framework Programme’s formal requirements.
The second day provided presentations and discussions on research tasks. Clarification of tasks, responsibilities and timelines were also discussed. The Partners also successfully agreed a detailed action plan for the coming months. read more >>
