Specific analytical protocols will be developed for the determination of the investigated nanomaterials’ uptake and distribution in tissues. Due to the large array of structures and properties, various techniques will be applied to obtain this task. 

Whatever route of exposure, various organs, tissues and cells can be exposed to nanoparticles. Very little information exists concerning the potential of diffusion into organs and the short-term and the long-term effect of the uptake by cells of such nanostructures. It is not known how long these particles will be retained by tissues and cells, whether they will be dissolved, what would be the effect of a high local concentration of their components, in cells and in defined cell organelles. 

In this project we have focused on considering reprecentative organs and to define representative cell lines of these organs. These organs are divided into 8 sub work packages that will use different experimental approaches to investigate the genreal mechanisms of nanoparticle toxicity with specific focus on oxidative stress/inflammation, immunotoxicity and genotoxicity. 

There will also be developed automated assays to generate high quality data for input into modelling activities and for future robust testing applications.

Work Package leader:
Lucienne Juillerat (CHUV)