News & Comment

A common understanding of the key regulatory term “substance” is needed for the implementation of chemicals regulations for nanomaterials.

The halide perovskite family has, arguably, become today’s most promising emerging materials sets for optoelectronic applications. Here, we discuss the underperformance to date of the colloidal nanocrystal forms of these materials when employed in electroluminescent lighting devices relative to their counterparts, in which the emitter layer is in the form of polycrystalline films. However, we highlight the bright future of halide perovskite colloidal nanocrystals in light-emission technologies such as LCD displays, quantum light sources and even alternative LED configurations, as well as key guidelines for their further development to get there.

Polyethylene glycol, used as a stabilizer in nanomedicine formulations, has recently been indicated as the possible cause of the anaphylactic reactions against the COVID-19 mRNA-based vaccines, but the evidence supporting this is contradictory, and other factors might be involved.

Almost all currently used vaccines against COVID-19 consist of either non-viral or viral nanoparticles. Here we attempt to understand the reasons behind the success of such advanced nanoscale vaccine technologies compared with clinically established conventional vaccines, and the lessons to be learnt from this potentially transformative development in the adoption and acceptance of nanotechnology for medicine.

Sharing the step-by-step procedures necessary to fabricate nanostructures could optimize efforts to achieve reproducible devices.

The challenge of assessing the scope and magnitude of risk from nanomaterials is urgent for society and ignoring risks could be detrimental for development. This challenge is bigger than the individual capacities on each side of the Atlantic, but effective cross-Atlantic collaboration can solve essential riddles about the use of nanomaterials.

Standardization and interoperability of data for both the functional and environmental performance properties of nanomaterials is essential to accelerate sustainable design.

The nanotechnology-enabled mRNA-based vaccine platform recently approved against COVID-19 bears hope for improved vaccine development and trialling capacities in low- and middle-income countries as part of a broader global public health agenda.

Sharing protocols with the end-users may allow their flexible implementation to produce nanotechnology solutions for global health challenges that better cater for local needs.

When developing nanotechnology solutions for global health it is important to be mindful of the ethical, environmental, socio-economical, cultural and legal aspects associated with their deployment.

Nano-formulating dexamethasone, and administering it via intravenous injection or inhalation, may help to improve anti-COVID-19 treatment efficacy by targeting the potent corticosteroid drug to hyper-activated immune cells, by potentiating its anti-oedema activity and by exploiting its anti-fibrotic effects.

Nanotechnology-based antimicrobial and antiviral formulations can prevent SARS-CoV-2 viral dissemination, and highly sensitive biosensors and detection platforms may contribute to the detection and diagnosis of COVID-19.

Chloroquine — an approved malaria drug — is known in nanomedicine research for the investigation of nanoparticle uptake in cells, and may have potential for the treatment of COVID-19.

The regulatory approval of Onpattro, a lipid nanoparticle-based short interfering RNA drug for the treatment of polyneuropathies induced by hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis, paves the way for clinical development of many nucleic acid-based therapies enabled by nanoparticle delivery.

As new nanomaterials, manufacturing methods and applications advance, the nanotechnology-related environmental, health and safety community is well positioned to build upon the scientific foundation and strong collaborations they have developed to further expand understanding and ensure responsible development into the future.

The experiences gained from the past 15 years of nanomaterial risk analysis may be useful for the risk analysis efforts of other emerging technologies.

Fifteen years since the ground-breaking experiments on graphene, its commercial exploitation is progressing at the expected pace for a new material.

Graphene is being used commercially in large quantities in ways that are grounded in market realities, far from the much hyped ‘killer applications’.

Discussions on agricultural nanotechnology are pervaded with conflicting accounts of public opinion. A pragmatist concept may help to explain why this is so difficult to identify.

Genetically modified organisms as foods are a globally contested topic. What dictates the regulatory oversight of genetically modified crops could be redefined by advances in nanotechnology and genome editing.