Webinar “Association of occupational exposure with ex vivo functional immune response in workers handling carbon nanotubes and nanofibers” hosted by NSC and available to watch again.

Claire Skentelbery (NIA, Chair NSC Dissemination), Stella Stoycheva (Yordas, Co-chair NSC WG A), and Martin Himly (PLUS, Chair NSC WG A)

On Tuesday, June 30^th 2020, the NanoSafety Cluster (NSC) WG A on Communication, Training, and Education and the NSC Dissemination Group jointly hosted a webinar on “Association of occupational exposure with ex vivo functional immune response in workers handling carbon nanotubes and nanofibers”, with experts Mary K. Schubauer-Berigan, Aaron Erdely, and Matthew Dahm from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Figure 1. Outline of the talk, which was based on the presenters’ recently published study: Schubauer-Berigan MK, Dahm MM, Toennis CA, Sammons DL, Eye T, Kodali V, Zeidler-Erdely PC, Erdely A [2020]. Association of occupational exposures with ex vivo functional immune response in workers handling carbon nanotubes and nanofibers. Nanotoxicology, Apr;14(3):404-419.

Matthew Dahm currently works as a Research Industrial Hygienist at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Cincinnati, Ohio (USA). He has 10 years of experience in conducting exposure assessment studies in carbon nanotube and nanofiber workplaces. Matt has focused his research efforts on developing sampling and exposure assessment methods for carbon nanotubes and nanofibers and was the lead exposure assessor and co-investigator for a recently conducted epidemiologic study on workers exposed to these materials within the US.

Aaron Erdely currently works as a Research Biologist at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Morgantown, West Virginia (USA). He has 15 years of experience in local and systemic toxicity following a pulmonary exposure and more than 20 years designing in vivo studies. His studies include metal-rich particulate matter and engineered nanomaterial exposures to elucidate mechanisms of systemic dysfunction and pulmonary inflammation and injury.

Mary K. Schubauer-Berigan currently serves as Senior Epidemiologist and acting Head of the Monographs Programme at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, France, where she has worked for two years. Before joining IARC, she spent nearly 20 years at NIOSH in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she led epidemiologic studies of health effects in workers exposed to carbon nanotubes and nanofibers, ionizing radiation, and beryllium.

The webinar received almost 130 registrations and had an excellent session with detailed questions from across the audience. Martin Himly form the Dept. Biosciences, Paris Lodron University of Salzburg (PLUS), AT was moderating through the event including its extensive Q&A session.

The event was recorded and is available on YouTube.

A number of additional references include:

• Erdely A, Dahm M, Chen BT, Zeidler-Erdely, PC, Fernback JE, Birch ME, Evans DE, Kashon ML, Deddens JA, Hulderman T, Bilgesu SA, Battelli L, Schwegler-Berry D, Leonard HD, McKinney W, Frazer DG, Antonini JM, Porter DW, Castranova V, Schubauer-Berigan MK [2013]. Carbon nanotube dosimetry: from workplace exposure assessment to inhalation toxicology. Part Fibre Toxicol 10:53.
• Erdely A, Antonini JM, Young SH, Kashon ML, Gu JK, Hulderman T, Salmen R, Meighan T, Roberts JR, Zeidler-Erdely PC [2014]. Oxidative stress and reduced responsiveness of challenged circulating leukocytes following pulmonary instillation of metal-rich particulate matter in rats. Part Fibre Toxicol 11(1):34.
• Dahm MM, Schubauer-Berigan MK, Evans DE, Birch ME, Bertke S, Beard JD, Erdely A, Fernback JE, Grinshpun SA [2018]. Exposure Assessments for a Cross-Sectional Epidemiologic Study of US Carbon Nanotube and Nanofiber Workers. Int J Hyg Environ Health, Apr;221(3):429-440.
• Beard JD, Erdely A, Dahm MM, de Perio MA, Birch ME, Evans DE, Fernback JE, Eye T, Kodali V, Mercer RR, Bertke SJ, Schubauer-Berigan MK [2018]. Carbon nanotube and nanofiber exposure and sputum and blood biomarkers of early effect among U.S. workers. Environ Int, Jul;116:214-228.
• Schubauer-Berigan MK, Dahm MM, Erdely A, Beard JD, Birch ME, Evans DE, Fernback JE, Mercer RR, Bertke SJ, Eye T, de Perio MA [2018]. Association of pulmonary, cardiovascular, and hematologic metrics with carbon nanotube and nanofiber exposure among U.S. workers: a cross-sectional study. Part Fibre Toxicol, May 16;15(1):22.

Sign up to the NSC WG A mailing list here and stay tuned for an upcoming communication, training and educational events in nanosafety and beyond. The webinar was hosted by the Nanotechnology Industries Association and you can follow its LinkedIn page for future events.

 Claire Skentelbery (NIA, Brussels, BE, claire.skentelbery@nanotechia.org) chairs the Dissemination Group of the EU NanoSafety Cluster. Stella Stoycheva, Yordas Group, UK, s.stoycheva@yordasgroup.com) is co-chair of the EU NanoSafety Cluster – Work Group A on Communication, Training, and Education. Martin Himly (PLUS, Salzburg, AT, martin.himly@sbg.ac.at; http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5416-085X) is the chair of the EU NanoSafety Cluster – Work Group A.