NSF Funding Continues Rice’s Study of Nanotech’s Impact on Health

By Jade Boyd

Rice University’s Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology (CBEN) was the first academic research center in the world dedicated to studying the interactions among nanomaterials and living organisms and ecosystems. Founded with a five-year National Science Foundation grant in 2001, it was eligible for a one-time five-year extension, which it received this year. The $12 million renewal ensures the center’s programs will continue through 2011.

“In its first five years, CBEN helped produce groundbreaking research in nanomedicine, nanobiotechnology, nanotoxicology, and nanoscale methods for environmental remediation,” says CBEN director Vicki Colvin, professor of chemistry. “CBEN has played an active role in informing the public, lawmakers, and industry leaders about potential unintended environmental consequences of nanotechnology. With this new funding, we are looking forward to making even more significant strides.”

Colvin stresses that CBEN’s success extends well beyond the laboratory. “Our educational programs for K–12 science teachers and their students have exposed thousands of young people to the exciting frontiers of nanoscale science,” she notes. “In addition, we have helped encourage companies to move nanotechnology from the laboratory to the marketplace through a varied set of collaborations with diverse groups like the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship and the International Council on Nanotechnology.”

CBEN’s research focus is on the so-called “wet–dry” interface between biology and materials science. For example, the machinery of life inside every living cell exists in a water-based environment. Nanomaterials, on the other hand, often are either insoluble or unable to function efficiently in solution. CBEN’s research aims to understand how nanomaterials function in water-based environments such as living organisms and ecosystems.

The International Council on Nanotechnology (ICON), a multistakeholder initiative that grew out of CBEN-led activities, is addressing the potential environmental and health risks of nanotechnology. Last year, ICON unveiled a nanomaterial-specific environmental, health, and safety database as a free public service.