Measuring interactions between materials and biology
Functional nanomaterials and molecular systems connect material properties with transport, detection and biological response. Our research combines experimental measurements with computational analysis to investigate these connections. Molecular assays, fluorescence methods, microscopy and histology provide complementary observations of interactions at cellular and tissue scales. Work on aptamers, extracellular vesicles and engineered nanocarriers examines how molecular recognition and material design can be linked to measurable behaviour in biological environments.
Quantitative imaging and pharmacokinetic modelling extend these studies to the spatial distribution, persistence and clearance of materials or molecular agents. MRI and PET methods can provide observations of transport and concentration over time, while computational models help relate those observations to underlying processes. Related molecular research examines expression profiles, regulatory pathways and sequence properties. The common methodological question is how measurements at different scales can constrain a model of a biological system.
Predictive toxicology and environmental exposure
Nanoinformatics investigates relationships between material descriptors, exposure conditions and biological effects. Our work includes explainable machine-learning methods for predicting nanomaterial cytotoxicity and the integration of experimental data within modelling frameworks. Such models support the comparison of materials and the identification of properties associated with a measured response. Their interpretation depends on the experimental conditions, coverage of the training data and uncertainty in predictions for less well-represented materials.
Exposure research complements these models with measurements of particles in environmental and biological settings. Studies of ultrafine particles, engineered nanoparticles and micro- and nanoplastics examine routes of exposure, distribution and effects. Spatial analysis contributes methods for relating environmental measurements to variation across locations. Together, experimental characterisation and predictive modelling provide a basis for evaluating material behaviour and supporting safer design, with attention to both the intended function of a material and its wider interactions with biological systems.
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Additional research projects (6)
Publications
2022
Nanotoxicology
Nanoparticles (NPs) are a wide class of materials currently used in several industrial and biomedical applications. Due to their small size (1-100 nm), NPs can easily enter the human body, inducing tissue damage. NP toxicity depends on physical and chemical NP properties (e.g., size, charge and surface area) in ways and magnitudes that are still unknown. We…Read the full abstractCollapse abstract
Nanoparticles (NPs) are a wide class of materials currently used in several industrial and biomedical applications. Due to their small size (1-100 nm), NPs can easily enter the human body, inducing tissue damage. NP toxicity depends on physical and chemical NP properties (e.g., size, charge and surface area) in ways and magnitudes that are still unknown. We assess the average as well as the individual importance of NP atomic descriptors, along with chemical properties and experimental conditions, in determining cytotoxicity endpoints for several nanomaterials. We employ a multicenter cytotoxicity nanomaterial database (12 different materials with first and second dimensions ranging between 2.70 and 81.2 nm and between 4.10 and 4048 nm, respectively). We develop a regressor model based on extreme gradient boosting with hyperparameter optimization. We employ Shapley additive explanations to obtain good cytotoxicity prediction performance. Model performances are quantified as statistically significant Spearman correlations between the true and predicted values, ranging from 0.5 to 0.7. Our results show that i) size in situ and surface areas larger than 200 nm and 50 m2/g, respectively, ii) primary particles smaller than 20 nm; iii) irregular (i.e., not spherical) shapes and iv) positive Z-potentials contribute the most to the prediction of NP cytotoxicity, especially if lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assays are employed for short experimental times. These results were moderately stable across toxicity endpoints, although some degree of variability emerged across dose quantification methods, confirming the complexity of nano-bio interactions and the need for large, systematic experimental characterization to reach a safer-by-design approach.