Author: sara.marchetti1@unimib.it

ASINA

sara.marchetti1@unimib.it Archive, Research Projects , ,
ASINA

The Safe-by-Design concept (SbD) incorporates safety of nano-enabled product (NEP) at the design stage of the production process. SbD reverses the paradigm of downstream risk analysis and management (‘is it safe?’, ‘can it be controlled?’, ‘does it transform?’) and pursues the production of less hazardous nano-products affording reduced exposure, mediated by the release of nanomaterials during the life-cycle. The SbD production of NEPs has been recently elaborated upon, and several EU funded projects have provided some tools, databases, and case studies for its implementation.

Despite the advantages that can be obtained, the current state of the art indicates that industrial production is struggling to activate the SbD approach and the fast industrial uptake of engineered nanomaterials (NMs) is missing or unsafely implemented. The delay of nanomanufacturing implementation in the industry is due to incorrect use, lack of NMs culture, and/or difficult access to better quality NMs due to cost or logistics reasons. Psychological difficulties due to the use of unregulated substances, easy access to non-quality-certified NMs, difficulties in following the fast technological evolution of NMs also play a role.

ASINA aims to:

  • support the fast industrial uptake of nanotechnology by providing Safe-by-Design solutions and supporting tools;
  • to give entrepreneurs knowledge and awareness of Safe-by-Design potential;
  • to increase confidence in Safe-by-Design nanomanufacturing by improving the interaction and integration of different stakeholders (entrepreneurs, scientists, regulators, innovators, policy makers).

For this purpose, the proposal will take into consideration the important nano design features of coating and encapsulation and related Value Chains (VCs). ASINA will develop a specific Safe-by-Design Management Methodology, consistent with modern business management systems, to deliver Safe-by-Design solutions and inform design decisions. The project will establish a pilot action, involving test beds and pilot plants, for testing and validating the methodology contents as specific implementations that can be generalized to other engineered nanomaterials, nano-enabled products and industrial case studies. ASINA will finally export the methodology to the industry through a roadmap (including guidelines, analytical tools, best practices) and other standardization deliverables such as CEN-CWA, as a realistic way to ensure diffusion of the ASINA SMM and its industrial implementation worldwide.

PROJECT DETAILS:

  • PROJECT TITLE: Anticipating Safety Issues at the Design Stage of NAno Product Development
  • ACRONYM: ASINA
  • START DATE: 01 March 2020
  • END DATE: 28 February 2024
  • TOPIC: NMBP-15-2019
    Safe by design, from science to regulation: metrics and main sectors (RIA)
  • EU CONTRIBUTION: 5,998,386.06 euro

Project Coordinator: Anna Luisa Costa

Partner UNIMIB – POLARIS: Paride Mantecca WP2 leader

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement: 862444).

Read more:

ASINA Web site

Work with us

sara.marchetti1@unimib.it News and Events
Work with us

New PhD position available!

Project title: New approach methodologies to assess the biological safety and mechanisms of action of advanced (nano)materials

The project will develop new advanced in vitro models of the lung barrier, exposed at the air-liquid-interface (ALI) with dedicated systems, to better mimicking the physiological conditions of exposure and responses to airborne particles and molecules. The new biological systems, based on the interplay of lung epithelial, endothelial and/or immune cells, also in combination with a 3D bio-printed extracellular matrix will be used to implement an adverse outcomes pathways (AOPs)-based approach to characterize the cytotoxic and proinflammatory effects of new nano(bio)materials and airborne pollutants. The project aims at establishing New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) combining advanced exposure systems, complex predictive biological models and molecular/omics, coupled with morphological approaches. A strong scientific contribution is expected in the fields of environmental toxicology and health and safety assessment of new chemicals and materials.

The PhD project is within the EU project INTEGRANO (Multidimensional Integrated Quantitative Approach to Assess Safety and Sustainability of Nanomaterials in Real Case Life Cycle Scenarios Using Nanospecific Impact Categories), HORIZON CL 4 2023 RESILIENCE 01 22 (GA n 101138414).

Tutor: Paride Mantecca

Supervisors: Maurizio Gualtieri, Laura Russo

The selection for admission to the 40th cycle PhD programme in Converging Technologies for Biomolecular Systems (UNIMIB) is open.

Please visit the Calls for Application section to get more information.

INTEGRANO

sara.marchetti1@unimib.it Research Projects ,
INTEGRANO

The Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) framework aims to steer the innovation process towards the green and sustainable industrial transition, substitute or minimise the production and use of substances of concern, and minimise the impact on health, climate and the environment during sourcing, production, use and end-of-life of chemicals, materials and products. However, SSbD implementation to nanomaterials (NMs) is hampered by a lack of harmonized or specific data and datasets which poses a challenge to the design of safe and sustainable NMs and their incorporation into nano-enabled products (NEPs).

INTEGRANO aims to:

• Support decision making in NM development, enabling stakeholders (scientists, material engineers, policymakers) to tackle the SSbD challenge in the NM context

• Promote the design and redesign of NMs and NEPs by reducing R&D and approval lead time, minimising costs and increasing data transparency

• To support industry by reducing research and technological development and innovation risk related to safety and sustainability by enabling impact-based informed investment decisions

UNIMIB is project coordinator of the project and leader of WP3, which aims at nano-tox and nano eco-tox data generation.

Call: HORIZON-CL4-2023-RESILIENCE-01-22

Grant Agreement: 101138414

Project Coordinator: Paride Mantecca (UNIMIB)

UNIMIB WP leader: Maurizio Gualtieri (WP3 Leader)

Further information can be found at the link

Scientific Publications 2024

sara.marchetti1@unimib.it Pubblicazioni, Research
  • Tseberlidis G., Trifiletti V., Husien A.H., L’Altrella A., Binetti S, Gosetti F. Cu2ZnSnS4 Nanoparticles as an Efficient Photocatalyst for the Degradation of Diclofenac in Water. Appl. Sci. 2024, 14, 9923. DOI: 10.3390/app14219923
  • Gualtieri M, Melzi G, Costabile F, Stracquadanio M, La Torretta T, Di Iulio G, Petralia E, Rinaldi M, Paglione M, Decesari S, Mantecca P, Corsini E. On the dose-response association of fine and ultrafine particles in an urban atmosphere: toxicological outcomes on bronchial cells at realistic doses of exposure at the Air Liquid Interface. Chemosphere. 2024 Sep 28:366:143417. DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.143417
  • Marchetti S, Colombo A, Saibene M, Bragato C, La Torretta T, Rizzi C, Gualtieri M, Paride Mantecca P. Shedding light on the cellular mechanisms involved in the combined adverse effects of fine particulate matter and SARS-CoV-2 on human lung cells. Sci Total Environ. 2024 Nov 20:952:175979. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.175979
  • Botto L, Bulbarelli A, Lonati E, Cazzaniga E, Palestini P. Correlation between Exposure to UFP and ACE/ACE2 Pathway: Looking for Possible Involvement in COVID-19 Pandemic. Toxics. 2024 Jul 31;12(8):560. DOI: 10.3390/toxics12080560
  • Bragato C, Persico A, Ferreres G, Tzanov T, Mantecca P. Exploring the Effects of Lignin Nanoparticles in Different Zebrafish Inflammatory Models. Int J Nanomedicine. 2024 Jul 30:19:7731-7750. DOI: 10.2147/IJN.S469813
  • Furxhi I, Perucca M, Koivisto AJ, Bengalli R, Mantecca P, Nicosia A, Burrueco-Subirà D, Vázquez-Campos S, Lahive E, Blosi M, Lopez de Ipiña  J, Oliveira J, Carriere M, Vineis C, Costa A. A roadmap towards safe and sustainable by design nanotechnology: Implementation for nano-silver-based antimicrobial textile coatings production by ASINA project. Comput Struct Biotechnol J. 2024 Jun 15:25:127-142. DOI: 10.1016/j.csbj.2024.06.013
  • Bragato C, Mazzotta R, Persico A, Bengalli R, Ornelas M, Gomes F, Bonfanti P, Mantecca P. Biocompatibility Analysis of Bio-Based and Synthetic Silica Nanoparticles during Early Zebrafish Development. Int J Mol Sci. 2024 May 18;25(10):5530. DOI: 10.3390/ijms25105530
  • Saibene M, Serchi T, Bonfanti P, Colombo A, Nelissen I, Halder R, Audinot JN, Pelaz B, Soliman MG, Parak WJ, Mantecca P, Gutleb AC, Cambier S. The use of a complex tetra-culture alveolar model to study the biological effects induced by gold nanoparticles with different physicochemical properties. Environ Toxicol Pharmacol. 2024 Mar:106:104353. DOI: 10.1016/j.etap.2023.104353
  • Perelshtein I, Shoshani S, Jacobi G, Natan M,  Dudchenko N, Perkas N, Tkachev M, Bengalli R, Fiandra L, Mantecca P, Ivanova K, Tzanov T, Banin E, Gedanken A. Protecting the Antibacterial Coating of Urinal Catheters for Improving Safety. ACS Appl Bio Mater. 2024 Feb 19;7(2):990-998. DOI: 10.1021/acsabm.3c00988
  • Motta G, Gualtieri M, Bengalli R, Saibene M, Belosi F, Nicosia A, Cabellos J, Mantecca P. An integrated new approach methodology for inhalation risk assessment of safe and sustainable by design nanomaterials. Environ Int. 2024 Jan:183:108420. DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2024.108420

MUSA

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MUSA

Multilayered Urban Sustainability Action

MUSA – Multilayered Urban Sustainability Action is an Innovation Ecosystem funded by the Ministry of University and Research under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.

The project involves collaboration between the University of Milan-Bicocca, the proposing institution, the Polytechnic University of Milan, Bocconi University, Milan University and numerous public and private partners.

MUSA was established in Milan as a response to the challenges that the metropolitan city faces in the transition to the three domains of sustainability: environmental, economic and social. And with an ambition: to usher in a new model of public/private collaboration that can be replicated nationally and internationally.

MUSA identifies the Lombardy region as an ideal laboratory for testing integrated innovations and planning interdisciplinary responses that act on several city management fronts: the environmental front, in which urban development must respect and strengthen biodiversity and foster optimal solutions for energy and sustainable mobility, the technological front, with the untapped potential of digitalisation and deep tech, and the economic and financial front, in which education and sustainable finance are playing increasingly central roles.

The POLARIS Interdepartmental Research Centre is involved in the Spoke 1 of the project, dedicated to safeguarding and enhancing the potential of the natural environment within the city, from biodiversity to renewable energy sources, from monitoring to involving citizens in sustainable mobility.

Spoke Leader: Massimo Labra

Further information can be found at the link

SAMANTA

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SA.MA.NT.A – ScAling-up di un sisteMA aNTi-particolato, anti-coronavirus, biocida Autorigenerante

The SA.MA.NT.A project is a scaling-up innovation of a filtration system capable of retaining the totality of particulate matter with diameter greater than 4nm (inorganic, organic, and biological PM) and providing >99.99% filtration efficiency, suitable for any indoor environment.

The system allows the inactivation of COVID-19 and a general biocidal action against all biological elements. It is indeed based on a heat treatment for the inactivation of COVID-19 virus and for the combustion of all particulate material collected on the filter, resulting in a completely biocidal as well as self-healing action of the filter itself, eliminating the production of special waste.

The system is designed to be independent from all possible variants of COVID-19 and any possible future pandemic biota, being the system based on a universal method of inactivation and destruction of any biological structure based on carbon chemistry (thermal method with the possibility of acting up to 900°C).

Project Coordinator: Luca Ferrero

INTEGRANO

sara.marchetti1@unimib.it News and Events, Research ,
INTEGRANO

UNIMIB is coordinator of a new Horizon Europe project: INTEGRANO (GA. 101138414).

In line with the current guidelines for Safe and Sustainable by Design – SSbD chemicals and materials, INTEGRANO proposes a general assessment approach based on quantitative evidence to be applied in practice for specific Nano Materials (NMs) design cases.
INTEGRANO ambition is to set the basis for a new paradigm based on standardised frameworks and by creating suitable NMs datasets as well as Nanospecific impact categories of NMs through their Life Cycle Stages (LCS), applied to specific design cases assessment.

12 partners from 8 different countries participate in the Integrano Project. This network allows for different expertises and skills within the project, which complement and support each other.

For further information visit INTEGRANO page, the website INTEGRANO – INTEGRANO or the Linkedin page.

AMYGING

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AMYGING

AMYGING – Holistically sustainable multi-modal β-amyloid imaging

AMYGING will demonstrate in a zebrafish embryo model that natural polyphenol-based carrier systems hold great potential as natural actives useful to form the basis of a highly modular amyloid imaging toolbox suitable for in vivo MRI and difference-fluorescence imaging.

Out-of-the-box approaches for combining traditional amyloid-sensing structures with insights from nanotechnology, molecular electronics and inherent characteristics of natural polyphenols allow for the simultaneous realization of multimodal imaging probes.

AMYGING aims at the implementation of a screening platform for highly sensitive detection of misfolded Aβ-oligomers in the cerebrospinal fluid of Alzheimer’s Disease patients via tunable nanoparticles (NPs). These NPs comprise a core of natural condensed polyphenolic (PNPs) structure complexing gadolinium ions and an outer layer of PNPs that are functionalized with amyloid-sensing small actives (ASSAs), a combination which leads to effectively increased contrast agent concentration in the immediate proximity of Aβ-oligomers for optimum bimodal imaging.

Call: PRIN2022

Grant Agreement: 202295845T

Project Coordinator: Margherita Brindisi (UNINA)

UNIMIB WP leader: Heiko Lange (WP2 Leader), Anita Colombo (WP3 Leader)

Scientific Publications 2023

sara.marchetti1@unimib.it Publications, Research
  • Bengalli RD, Zerbi G, Lucotti A, Catelani T, Mantecca P. Carbon nanotubes: Structural defects as stressors inducing lung cell toxicity. Chem Biol Interact. 2023 Sep 1;382:110613. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbi.2023.110613
  • Botto L, Lonati E, Russo S, Cazzaniga E, Bulbarelli A, Palestini P. Effects of PM2.5 Exposure on the ACE/ACE2 Pathway: Possible Implication in COVID-19 Pandemic. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Mar 1;20(5):4393. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20054393
  • Bragato C, Pistocchi A, Bellipanni G, Confalonieri S, Balciunie J, Monastra FM, Carra S, Vitale G, Mantecca P, Cotelli F, Gaudenzi G. Zebrafish dnm1a gene plays a role in the formation of axons and synapses in the nervous tissue. J Neurosci Res. 2023 Apr 9. https://doi.org/1002/jnr.25197.
  • Gualtieri M, Carriere M, Mantecca P. Hazard, Distribution and Exposure of Particulate Pollution from Indoor and Outdoor Environments.Toxics. 2023 Sep 12;11(9):772. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics11090772
  • Kose O, Béal D, Motellier S, Pelissier N, Collin-Faure V, Blosi M, Bengalli R, Costa A, Furxhi I, Mantecca P, Carriere M. Physicochemical Transformations of Silver Nanoparticles in the Oro-Gastrointestinal Tract Mildly Affect Their Toxicity to Intestinal Cells In Vitro: An AOP-Oriented Testing Approach. Toxics. 2023; 11(3):199. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics11030199
  • Kose O, Mantecca P, Costa A, Carrière M. Putative adverse outcome pathways for silver nanoparticle toxicity on mammalian male reproductive system: a literature review. Part Fibre Toxicol. 2023 Jan 5;20(1):1. https://doi.org/1186/s12989-022-00511-9
  • Marchetti S., Gualtieri M., Pozzer A, Lelieveld J., Hansell A. L., Colombo A., Mantecca P. On fine particulate matter and COVID-19 spread and severity: an in vitro toxicological plausible mechanism. Environ Int. 179 (2023) 108131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2023.108131
  • Moschini E, Colombo G, Chirico G, Capitani G, Dalle-Donne I, Mantecca P. Biological mechanism of cell oxidative stress and death during short-term exposure to nano CuO. Sci Rep. 2023 Feb 9;13(1):2326. https://doi.org/1038/s41598-023-28958-6
  • Motta G, Gualtieri M, Saibene M, Bengalli R, Brigliadori A, Carrière M, Mantecca P. Preliminary Toxicological Analysis in a Safe-by-Design and Adverse Outcome Pathway-Driven Approach on Different Silver Nanoparticles: Assessment of Acute Responses in A549 Cells. Toxics. 2023; 11(2):195. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics11020195

New Article published!

sara.marchetti1@unimib.it News and Events, Publications , ,
New Article published!

What is the connection between pollution and COVID19?

The POLARIS “Health and Environmental Sustainability” Research Centre has demonstrated how air pollution can play a crucial role in the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the resulting severity of the COVID-19 disease. The study, recently published in the journal Environment International, paves the way for a greater understanding of how atmospheric particulate matter can influence and facilitate the possibility of contracting respiratory diseases transmitted by viruses or bacteria and provides fundamental information to understand how the population responds to the same threat depending on the quality of the environment in which it lives.

To find out more, read the interview with our researchers, edited by the press office of the University of Milan-Bicocca.

Further information on Environment International:

Marchetti S, Gualtieri M, Pozzer A, Lelieveld J, Saliu F, Hansell AL, Colombo A, Mantecca P. On fine particulate matter and COVID-19 spread and severity: An in vitro toxicological plausible mechanism.