Welcome to PATROLS
Physiologically Anchored Tools for Realistic nanOmateriaL hazard aSsessment
Welcome to the winter 2019 newsletter from the PATROLS project. In this edition, we review the project's significant advances in its second year and invite you to catch up with the project through key events in 2020.
But first... a quick reminder of the PATROLS mission.
PATROLS, a H2020 Project, aims to change the way we think about and test engineered nanomaterials to ensure they are safe and fit for purpose. PATROLS aims to develop an enhanced suite of robust, reproducible and transferable in vitro tests, which will offer improved prediction of the long-term nanomaterial hazard effects in humans and the environment. These next-generation test systems will be fit for purpose to better support regulatory risk decision making and reduce the reliance on animal testing.
PATROLS achievements in the past 6 months
Science and engagement have taken great strides forward in PATROLS, including a stakeholder workshop at the OECD to engage with the standards and regulatory community; while training included a PATROLS-CityCare models training workshop. Outreach has also included webinars and a podcast focussed on advanced models being developed in the project.
The science has delivered reports in effects of repeated dose inhalation studies, SOPs for advanced lung model long-term culture conditions and exposure protocols and advanced long-term exposure ecotoxicity bioassays for a variety of species across a food chain. For gastrointestinal tract (GIT) and liver models, development and application of simulant fluids representing biological compartments that nanomaterials traverse in a sequential manner (following oral or inhalation exposure) has been established, while the algal testing platform LEVITATT (LED Vertical Illumination Table for Algal Toxicity Tests) is ready for first round robin tests.
A lung fibrosis model is under development, an inflamed model of the gastrointestinal tract has been established and characterised, and models representative of mild and severe steatotic disease are under evaluation. Interestingly, when the microbiome is taken into consideration, microbes on zebrafish larvae have been found to protect against the impacts of nanomaterial exposure.
PATROLS in 2019 - scientific outcomes
The PATROLS project is accelerating its scientific publications, as the project matures and the last 6 months have resulted in some excellent results. Well done to the PATROLS team and we look forward to the next 6 months!
Listen to the podcast and read the accompanying article in which Professor Shareen Doak, PATROLS Coordinator from Swansea University Medical School and Dr. Wolfgang Moritz from InSphero, discuss the use of 3D cell-based human liver microtissue models to predict the adverse effects of chronic exposure to nanomaterial as well as the use of liver microtissue models for drug discovery and development.
Project partners have been busy at scientific conferences in the last 6 months also and you can catch up with some key posters presented below or visit the Project Library page to see all key project outcomes.
- Non-Animal Approaches in Science: Challenges and Future Directions. Read...
- Effects of ZnO nanoparticles on Algae, Daphnia and Zebrafish larvae. Read...
- Repeated long-term exposures of multi-walled carbon nanotubes to the 3D human lung model EpiAlveolar(TM) to predict the onset of fibrosis. Read...
- Advanced in vitro liver and lung model development for engineered nanomaterial hazard assessment. Read...
- A dynamic in vitro model approach towards deducing the hazard of long-term nanomaterial exposure to the alveolar epithelial barrier. Read...
- Viscoelastic Cell Memory: Can mesenchymal stem cells sense and remember viscoelastic signals? Read...
PATROLS in 2020 - Get involved
- PATROLS will be hosting a webinar on the 25th of February under the title: Introduction to advanced ecotoxicity testing of nanomaterials – the PATROLS approach”. The main focus of the presentation will be to introduce and present our approach for algal testing using our newly developed test setup (LED Vertical Illumination Table for Algal Toxicity Tests – LEVITATT) and the second half will be a QA session with regards to the upcoming ring test of the mentioned test setup. Register for the webinar HERE and the final time will be confirmed early in January.
- In collaboration with Unilever, the NC3Rs is hosting a one-day workshop entitled 'Towards the development of animal product free in vitro systems'. The workshop will be held in central London on Wednesday 22 January 2020. More...
- This year the Venice Nano Training School celebrates its 10th anniversary. The event will take place in San Servolo (Venice, Italy) on 22th – 27th March 2020.The school will feature keynote speeches, hands-on sessions and a dedicated Young Scientist Forum Day during which early career researchers will have the opportunity to present their work. More...
- Join the TEDD University Visit: Human 3D Tissue Models for Hazard Assessment and Cancer Research on 31 January 2020 in Fribourg, Switzerland. The BioNanomaterials group at AMI is investigating how tissue engineering approaches can be optimized to improve the predictive power of human 3D models. Ongoing research projects will be presented about how to investigate the hazard of aerosolized nanomamaterials. More...
NanoTox2021 - Express your interest
H2020 projects PATROLS, BIORIMA & GRACIOUS are joining efforts to organise the 10th International Conference on Nanotoxicology, NanoTox2021. The conference will take place in Edinburgh on 20-22 April 2021. You can can express your interest and find out more about the event HERE.
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