Biomarkers of nanomaterials hazard from multi-layer data.

There is an urgent need to apply effective, data-driven approaches to reliably predict engineered nanomaterial (ENM) toxicity. Here we introduce a predictive computational framework based on the molecular and phenotypic effects of a large panel of ENMs across multiple in vitro and in vivo models. Our methodology allows for the grouping of ENMs based on multi-omics approaches combined with robust toxicity tests.

Genotoxicity of unmodified and organo-modified montmorillonite.

The natural clay mineral montmorillonite (Cloisite) Na+) and an organo-modified montmorillonite (Cloisite 30B) were investigated for genotoxic potential as crude suspensions and as suspensions filtrated through a 0.2-microm pore-size filter to remove particles above the nanometre range. Filtered and unfiltered water suspensions of both clays did not induce mutations in the Salmonella/microsome assay at concentrations up to 141microg/ml of the crude clay, using the tester strains TA98 and TA100.