Risk Assessment
Are there human or environmental risks?
Researchers at PNNL are leading the development of superior experimental and computational tools for predicting cellular dose of particles and nanomaterials in rodents and humans. An anatomically correct 3-D computational model of the rodent and human respiratory tract can be used to predict the dose of nanomaterials to specific lung regions and extrapolate from delivered doses in animals to humans. This unique capability is critical for interpreting the results of animal toxicity studies.
A computational model of particle kinetics and dosimetry for cell culture systems has also been developed for selecting doses for in vitro toxicity screening studies that normalize delivered doses across particle types and reflects reasonable human exposure scenarios. The model can also be used to estimate dose from completed studies to improve data interpretation and extrapolate findings to in vivo exposures. Tools such as these and the associated expertise in particle dosimetry offer unequalled capability to extrapolate the results of nanoparticle toxicity studies across dose (high to low), study type (in vitro to in vivo), species (rodent to human) and sensitive populations (children, asthmatics).
