Meeting

The Implications of Nanotechnology for Environmental Health Research

When:

Thursday, May 27, 2004 (8:24 PM)

Topic(s):

Environmental Health

Activity:

Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine

Board(s):

Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice

Nanoscience is a rapidly developing scientific discipline that enables researchers to manipulate and characterize matter at the level of single atoms and small groups of atoms. It integrates cellular and molecular components with engineered materials to produce nanoscale objects that have wide-ranging potential for applications in science and engineering from molecular biology to the physical sciences. For the health community, nanotechnology may aid in drug delivery, provide noninvasive imagining, and the development of new diagnosistic tests.

What nanotechnology will mean for environmental health scientists is an area of on-going discussion. This one-day workshop sponsored by the Institute of Medicine's Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine examined the issues of nanotechnology from a public health perspective. The discussion  illuminated the potential health benefits and advances in technologies, while also discussing recent toxicological concerns.