At Harvard Chan School, nano safety is no small concern
Nanotechnology is booming, and not just in the lab. In recent years, industry has embraced the unique properties of tiny particles in everything from medicine to airplane design to doughnut frosting. Philip Demokritou is an associate professor of aerosol physics and director of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Center for Nanotechnology and Nanotoxicology. Like the vast majority of chemicals in consumer products, emerging nanomaterials rarely receive safety testing, he notes. That’s why he and his colleagues are promoting an approach that incorporates safety testing in design. Demokritou sat down with the Gazette to talk about the aims of the center, its recent work on novel nanoparticles, and the potential benefits of a safer-by-design approach. Q&A Philip Demokritou GAZETTE: Can you define engineered nanoparticles for us? DEMOKRITOU: To put things in perspective, one nanometer is 100,000 times less than the human hair diameter. So it’s very tiny. You put five carbon atoms next to each other...