Preface

The enabling nature of nanotechnology has infused engineered nanomaterial-based products in the market worldwide. To date more than 1800 nano-based products in the domains of personal care, health and fitness, electronics, textiles, sports, ceramics, energy, automotive, medicine, agriculture and environmental remediation, are already in use. There are more than 40 different types of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) being used in various products, these include ENMs of metals, metal oxides, carbonaceous materials and composites. These ENMs are being inadvertently released into the aerial, terrestrial and the aquatic environment.

The need for test methods, validation of existing protocols, methodologies and procedures for safety as well as, in vitro and in vivo toxicity assessment of ENMs has been, and will continue to be the objective of studies in the area of nanomaterial toxicology. The empowering nature of nanotechnology makes the development and validation of toxicity assessment methodologies all the more necessary if we are to engineer safe materials at the nanoscale, exploit nanomaterials in drug delivery, determine the fate of ENMs in the environment and safely dispose of nanoproducts.

This book, Nanotoxicology: Experimental and Computational Perspectives, incorporates several comprehensive nanomaterial toxicity protocols, which will serve as a highly useful and ready resource for research students and scientists working in regulatory toxicology as well as biomedical, biochemical and pharmaceutical sciences.

The authors have actively contributed to peer-reviewed scientific literature in the area of nanomaterial toxicology. The book addresses the aforesaid issues in thirteen chapters, each with a comprehensive discussion of the methodology. The challenges faced in nanomaterial toxicity assessment have been addressed in the very first chapter of the book to introduce the reader to this new component of toxicological sciences.

The initial chapters of the book describe the protocols for the chemical synthesis of nanoparticles for a range of applications including usage in biomedicine. The subsequent chapters describe the in vitro and in vivo protocols for toxicity assessment of engineered nanomaterials, developments of alternate test models, emerging systems toxicology approaches, organ-on-chip systems and needs in clinical toxicology assessment. A component of the book also explores the need for safe nanoparticles for biological and therapeutic use and computational approaches for modeling of interactions of nanoparticles with biomolecules. The third section of the book explores the paradigm of health hazard and risk assessment of these novel materials in medicine and the environment. In this book the regulatory perspective, based on the risk associated with the application of nanomaterials in nanomedicine, the status of existing assays and emerging approaches to frame policy of health risk assesssment have been discussed. The book also introduces the readership to international guidelines and recommendations for safety and risk assessment.

This book epitomizes the long-term scientific association that the editors have enjoyed with the authors and is a culmination of their collaborative efforts.

Alok Dhawan

Diana Anderson

Rishi Shanker