Nanomaterials in Ecosystems: Should we worry?

Dr. Emily Bernhardt

Assistant Professor of Biology at Duke University

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“But I am not afraid to consider the final question as to whether, ultimately---in the great future---we can arrange the atoms the way we want; the very atoms, all the way down! What would happen if we could arrange the atoms one by one the way we want them?

…Up to now, we have been content to dig in the ground to find minerals.… we must always accept some atomic arrangement that nature gives us.

…What would the properties of materials be if we could really arrange the atoms the way we want them?

Physicist Richard Feynman“There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom”December 1959

An engineered nanoparticle may be defined as any intentionally produced particle that has a characteristic dimension from 1 to 100 nm and has properties that are not shared by non-nanoscale particles with the same chemical composition.

What is a nanoparticle?

An engineered nanoparticle may be defined as any intentionally produced particle that has a characteristic dimension from 1 to 100 nm and has properties that are not shared by non-nanoscale particles with the same chemical composition.

What is a nanoparticle?

Geobacter sulfurreducens expressing pilli

Geobacter sulfurreducens expressing pilli

Nanoparticulate Iron oxides in Washington,

D.C. drinking water

Nanoparticulate Iron oxides in Washington,

D.C. drinking water

Cellulose nanofibrils in maize (2x2μm)

Cellulose nanofibrils in maize (2x2μm)

Nanoparticles are ubiquitous in nature

Organisms have evolved in systems full of nanomaterials…

Nanoparticles are ubiquitous in nature

An engineered nanoparticle may be defined as any intentionally produced particle that has a characteristic dimension from 1 to 100 nm and has properties that are not shared by non-nanoscale particles with the same chemical composition.

What is a nanoparticle?

An engineered nanoparticle may be defined as any intentionally produced particle that has a characteristic dimension from 1 to 100 nm and has properties that are not shared by non-nanoscale particles with the same chemical composition.

What is a nanoparticle?

Titanium dioxide Nanoparticles

Carbon Nanotubes

Quantum Dots

Manufactured Iron oxide nanoparticles

Manufactured Iron oxide nanoparticles

Carbon nanotube

“superthread”

Carbon nanotube

“superthread”ZnO nanowiresZnO nanowires

Geobacter sulfurreducens expressing pilli

Geobacter sulfurreducens expressing pilli

Nanoparticulate Iron oxides in Washington,

D.C. drinking water

Nanoparticulate Iron oxides in Washington,

D.C. drinking water

Cellulose nanofibrils in maize (2x2μm)

Cellulose nanofibrils in maize (2x2μm)

Nanomaterials are ubiquitous in nature

# of consumer products containing NPs

From the Project on Emerging Technologies

Nanomaterials, good for the environment?

Nanomaterials, good for the environment?

Nanomaterials, good for the environment?

Nanomaterials, good for the environment?

Nanomaterials, good for the environment?

How can we provide accurate

predictions of the fate and

impact of novel compounds in

natural environments?

Sondi & Sulapek-Sondi 2004

E. coli ≠ Ecosystem

How can Nanoscale materials have ecosystem scale effects?

1. Through direct effects on microbes, algae or plants

2. Through transmission & biomagnification of nanoparticles through food webs

Nanosilver effects on streamwater microbes

Work by Ben Colman

Effect of nanosilver on Lolium multiflorum

Work by Liyan Yin

Gold (Au) Nanoparticles in foodwebs

Images from Jason Unrine, Lee Newman

and Paul Bertsch (CEINT, University of Kentucky)

Control Exposed (3.5 nm Au)

New evidence for trophictransfer & bioaccumulation in tobacco hornworms

Test Tube ≠ Ecosystem

Biosolid + Agnano application to field wetland microcosms

Biosolid + Agnano application to field wetland microcosms

Prototype slantboard wetland mesocosmWith real time environmental monitoring

Q: How should nanomaterials be regulated to maximize potential while minimizing unintended consequences?

Q&A

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