Symposium S.NM04-Nanosafety

Nanotechnology research continues to surprise people with fascinating properties and functionalities through making various nanomaterials, which bring numerous opportunities and benefits into a broad range of applications and impact our society in many aspects. Some nanomaterials have already been commercialized. However, the possible adverse impacts on environment and health are not yet sufficiently understood. The toxicity of nanomaterials must be carefully evaluated so that the benefits of nanomaterials can be fully appreciated. It is important to know more about possible adverse effects when exposed to nanomaterials, how the use of nanomaterials in manufacturing and commercial products may affect human health and the environment. Safety and toxicity control of nanomaterials is a timely and important topic.

This symposium focuses on safety and toxicity issues from synthesis to application to waste disposal of nanomaterials. The nanomaterials to be discussed in this symposium are, for example, metals, oxides, semiconductors, superconductors, porous materials, ceramics, polymers, magnetic materials, colloids, and biological nanomaterials. Tentative attendees are materials scientists, chemists, toxicologists, engineers, business professionals, start-up entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, patent experts, incubator managers, and others who care about the safety and toxicity of nanomaterials in research, manufacturing, and final products on the market, as well as the regulatory scientists and policy makers.

Topics will include:

Environment-friendly synthetic methods and greener nanomaterials
New processing methods for device or system manufacture to reduce the use of toxic raw materials
Recovery and reuse of nanomaterials
Health and safety concerns from the use or adoption of nanotechnology
In vivo and in vitro toxicity study of nanomaterials
Tissue and animal reactions to the exposure of nanomaterials/devices
Effects and mechanisms of size, shape, composition, surface chemistry to nanomaterials acute or chronic toxicity
Instruments and equipment for nanomaterials safety and toxicity characterization
Technologies and methods to evaluate the safety and toxicity of nanomaterials
Methods to prevent, measure and control the toxicity of nanomaterials
Treatment or recovery of waste nanomaterials in lab research, commercial production, and customer uses
Visions on sustainable development of nanotechnology
Education and demonstration on public concerns on nanotechnology
Regulation and guidance on the safety evaluation of nanotechnology based product

Invited Speakers:

Valerio Voliani (Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia , Italy)
Jared Brown (University of Colorado Denver, USA)
Chunying Chen (National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, China)
Xiao He (Institute of High Energy of Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences, China)
Robert Hurt (Brown University, USA)
Agnes Kane (Brown University, USA)
David Tai Leong (National University of Singapore, Singapore)
Hedi Mattoussi (Florida State University, USA)
Chiara Pastore (Nature Nanotechnology, United Kingdom)
Bakhtiyor Rasulev (North Dakota State University, USA)
Tian Xia (University of California, Los Angeles, USA)