Science Engineering, And Biomedical Applications

Study of toxic materials and how they affect the environment, human and animal health and future technology

These substances not only trigger liver, heart, kidney and nervous system deterioration, but also cause lung impairment and cancer.

“Chemical hazards pose an external or internal physiological threat to one or more parts of the human body. This hazard can cause both short/long term health and physical effects depending on route of entry, toxicity, amount and duration of exposure” (Haight, 2012, p. 60).

Nanoparticles (1 000 000 times smaller than a millimetre) are manifesting to be a great success in nanomedicine’s discovery of supplementary methods of fighting against superbugs. At the University of Colorado, researchers have utilized nanoscale quantum dots, which are “miniscule semiconductor particles with specific light-absorption properties, to kill drug-resistant superbugs without harming the surrounding healthy tissue,” (Nagpal, 2017: para. 2). Nanoscale quantum dots that are activated by a light source perturb the balance of chemical processes in threatening bacteria that would kill them.

Manufacturers rarely discuss the dangers of using chemical-based products; rather focus on only the benefits. It is important to understand the fact that no level of chemical exposure is safe. Any direct contact with chemical agent is even worse since it is absorbed into the bloodstream. The risk factor about chemical ingredients is that there is no enzyme in the human body that is designed to break these chemicals down. With time, accumulation of these chemicals causes serious health problems.

Research Theme: Building on the building blocks of life: Nanoscale materials for investigating biologically inspired and environmentally important systems.

“This work has led many other investigators around the world to study this nanomaterial, but we were one of the first groups to study these nanoparticles in a biomedical context.

Nano-Bio Interactions: Create novel platforms for the direct investigation of the nanoparticle-cell interactions, which are very important both to understand nanotoxicity and develop new Nanotoxicology assessment tools.

People come into contact with numerous chemicals every day that are in our food, water, air, and household products. Many of these can be a threat to our health and in some cases have been caused to invoke death. For scientists, trying to find the volume of exposure that is acceptable or unacceptable is a painstaking process. It involves performing a risk assessment which takes into consideration the following factors. How much of a chemical is present in an environmental medium, how much contact does a person or ecological receptor have with the contaminated medium, and the inherent toxicity of the chemical (EPA, 2012). This paper will address specific questions about risk assessments and when I think a risk is deemed acceptable.

Biotechnology at its simplest, is technology based on biology. It is the study of cellular and Biomolecular processes to help develop new advanced technologies and products to help improve overall health and the environment. Modern biotechnology focuses more on finding a breakthrough that would help contribute in reducing the world’s carbon footprint, combating deadly diseases, feed the poor and implement cleaner, more resourceful industrial manufacturing processes into society. One of the most well-known, yet controversial topics generated from biotechnology is genetic engineering (occurs when the plant has been modified to achieve a particular goal). It is the process that has been used to produce Golden Rice so that millions of children who suffer from micronutrient deficiencies will be able to grow and develop properly. By doing this, Golden Rice has the capability of reducing the common killer disease in the developing world, all through the use of biotechnology and its bi-products like genetic engineering. In this essay, it will discuss the potential benefits and issues relating to golden rice, analysing the technique used to produce golden rice grains and why micronutrients are essential in all diets.

Due to expansion of the field of nanotoxicology and the escalating number of the published studies on the topic it is, has been and continues to be difficult to publish negative data. NMs are not equally harmful - from a toxicological point of view it is not logical that only positive effects (i.e. harmful) are published, while the negative data (instances where no toxic/adverse effects are attributed to a material) is largely ignored. In order for the field of nanotoxicology to progress it is crucial that both positive and negative outcomes are regarded with equal prominence in well-designed experiments. This is also very important for safe-by-design and legislative purposes.

Today many common commercial products contain some sort of engineered nanoparticles. “Examples include cosmetics, sunscreens, clothes, solar cells, sporting good[s], paints, and electronics” (Kosal 8). Although major developments have only occurred in the last decade, the US military began conducting nanotechnology research in the early 1980s. It was not until the mid-1990s, after the Department of Defense (DoD) identified nanotechnology as one of the six ‘Strategic Research Areas’ of Interest, that major investments in the research and development in nanotechnology began. Nanotechnology research seeks to advance both offensive and defensive military objectives (Lele 234). In January of 2000, President Bill Clinton “unveiled the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) where he called for an initiative with funding levels around 500 million dollars” (Tate 23). “All branches of the U.S. military currently conduct nanotechnology research, including the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Office of Naval Research (ONR), Army Research Office (ARO), and Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR)” (Tate 20). By the conclusion of this paper, the reader will have a basic understanding of nanotechnology and its applicability in military affairs. Additionally, the reader will understand the hazards of nanotechnology in order to determine if the military should continue to focus on nanotechnology.

Chemical Hazards Chemicals are both naturally occurring and man-made. From the environment, exposure to chemical agents in our air, water, food and soil, have shown to be hazardous to human health causing cancer and lung disease, metabolic issues, brain damage, and even birth defects. Essentially, these chemicals act as toxins and poisoning, also playing a role in infectious diseases and causing the body's immune system to break down. The World Health Organization, for instance, believes that billions of people are exposed to chemical hazards on a regular basis (solvents, acids, pesticides, etc.), but at different levels and differing levels of toxicity and over differing periods of time. The exposure rate, especially from heavy metals and agricultural waste and products, seem to be the most serious over time, but even such products as led and arsenic can cause cancers that are serious and attributable to environmental standards (World Research Institute, 2000).

The driving forces behind this work are related to the increased use of nanopolymers for biomedical purposes. Charged and neutral polymers are routinely used for gene and drug delivery. However, limited studies are performed to test their safety. Therefore, the originality of this work lies in its attempt to evaluate the toxicity of three widely used polymers for delivery of chemotherapeutic agents. Furthermore, we aim to establish efficient methods for nanotoxicity testing through comparing the results of three different models ( 2D, 3D invitro cell cultures and invivo zebrafish embryo)preparing these materials for clinical application.

NPs produced by nanotechnology methods have been developed for application in different pesticides (Nel et al., 2006). Therefore, methods used to manufacture NPs are important criteria. Due to specific physiochemical properties, NPs may be used as fillers, semiconductors, opacifiers, catalysts, and microelectronics, and also as cosmetics and drug carriers in pharmacology and pharmaceutics (Nel et al., 2006). Thereafter, we need to consider risk assessment, establishment of safety manufacture, and the use of NPs in the marketplace and their potential toxicity (Nel et al., 2006; Medina et al., 2007). Next, we investigated the underlying mechanism of biogenic Te NRs-induced cytotoxicity in the PC-12 cell line. As shown in Figure 2, cell viability was reduced in a concentration-dependent manner. By increasing the concentration of biogenic Te NRs, cytotoxicity can be enhanced in PC-12 cells. Significant reduction in rat hippocampal astrocytes viability was observed in exposure to 1.95–250 μM of diphenylditelluride (DPDT) and 0.97-250 μM of TeCl4through MTT assay; lethal concentration (LC50) for both compounds was estimated at 62.5 μM (Roy and Hardej, 2011). Studies have indicated that NPs may induce cytotoxicity by disrupting the cell structure and cause dysfunction in the cells by binding to survival macromolecules (Navarro et al., 2008). It has been reported that these toxicities depend on particle size, surface properties, and then, on cellular uptake of NPs