Project description
How safe are engineered nanomaterials?
Chemical as well as particle toxicology should be considered when predicting the safety of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs), which are widely used to improve food production, energy generation, and the removal of pollutants from water. Most safety assessments have been executed using acute testing, and effects are hardly seen. However for ENMs, effects usually occur after long-term exposure. Current hazard assessment lacks accurate approaches to assess the safety of ENMs at community level. The ERC-funded ECOWIZARD project will work to improve understanding of the chronic effects of ENMs on organisms and species interactions, explicitly accounting for the 'ecology' in eco-toxicology. By combining lab and field-realistic mesocosm experiments, the project will generate fundamental and generalisable insights.
Objective
Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) are widely used, and nanotechnological innovations grow with rapid pace. Studies on nanotoxicology have demonstrated that chemical toxicology as well as particle toxicology should be accounted for in predicting the safety of ENMs; and no simple correlation between toxic responses and mass, nanoparticle size or any other particle characteristic is found. Effects often occur only after long-term exposure, whereas evidence of acute toxicity induced by ENMs is limited. Hence, current hazard assessment lacks accurate approaches to assess the safety of ENMs at species level nor does it accounted knowledge for knowledge on how ENMs affect species relationships. To overcome these problems, I address within my proposal 2 key gaps: 1) The current lack of understanding of the chronic effects of ENMs at environmentally relevant conditions at the individual species level as well as at higher ecological levels including considerations of species interactions. 2) The current lack of transferability of dose and response knowledge allowing to extrapolation towards untested (advanced) ENMs and untested species. The EcoWizard project aims to acquire fundamental and generalizable insights into the chronic effects on species and species interactions induced by long-term exposure to (advanced) ENMs at environmentally relevant conditions. My ambitious aim is to combine lab-based experiments and field-realistic mesocosm experiments in tandem with ecophysiological modelling and ecological modelling. Results obtained during this project will ultimately break new grounds by providing the first fundamental insights into the chronic impacts of ENMs on organisms and species interactions, explicitly accounting for the ‘ecology’ in ecotoxicology. The project results will generate the backbone of new ecological-based models that allow to quantify the environmental impact of newly developed ENMs and that are broadly applicable to other ecosystems.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences health sciences public health
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology
- engineering and technology nanotechnology nano-materials
- medical and health sciences basic medicine toxicology
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2020-COG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
2311 EZ Leiden
Netherlands
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.