The challenge: a limited understanding of the immunogenicity of 2D materials that hinder their industrial development and uptake of innovative/disruptive technologies based on these emerging materials, in safety critical sectors. The potential impact: Getting a better understanding of the immune properties of 2D-M will not only help informing regulatory bodies for setting up guidelines, standards and risk management rules for the wider society and protection of the environment, but also provide the necessary information to creative and innovative industries for a safe production and use of 2D-M. Indeed, the implementation of a Safer-by-Design approach in the production and use of 2D-M requires that industries are made aware of the key physicochemical features that may make 2D-M toxic and/or immunogenic. This will help the implementation of risk management rules at workplace (e.g. technical containment measures) or re-engineering 2D-M to make them safer for end-users (e.g. by changing size or using surface coating or embedment). The project will also aim to equip the student with communication and outreach training, personal development, as well as research specific training to enable her/him to be a future research leader with excellent public engagement skills, especially towards industrial sectors. A possible training secondment aboard, in a leading Research Institution or in industry, will allow exposing the candidate to different research environments and increase her/his intersectorial mobility, hence benefitting her/his future employability.
Lloyd’s Register Foundation Doctoral Student of the NowNano CDT at the University of Manchester. Investigating the interactions of 2D nano materials with the immune system.
In 2010, he relocated to the UK and joined the Nanomedicine Lab, UCL School of Pharmacy, University College London, as a visiting post-doctoral scientist and was awarded a Marie Sklodowska-Curie career development Fellowship by the European Commission (FP7) in 2011 to assess the pros and cons of using carbon nanotubes for nanomedicine in the brain. Upon completion of the Marie Curie project, he joined the University of Manchester as a Lecturer in Nanosafety.
Professor MacDonald holds a chair in Immunology at the Manchester Collaborative Centre for Inflammation Research, School of Biological Sciences. He is currently training 5 PhD students, 2 postdocs and 1 Research Fellow. He has published >72 papers (>4200 citations; h-index =30), including some in Nat Comm, Nat Rev Immunology and Science. Professor MacDonald brings his leading expertise in immunology of dendritic cells and macrophages.
Professor Casiraghi holds a chair in Nanoscience at the School of Chemistry. She has been awarded an EU funded ERC consolidator grant in 2015 (NOC2D project). Currently her group is composed of 3 Postdocs and 10 PhD students. She has published more than 78 papers (>19,600 citations; h-index =41), including Nat Chem, Nat Nanotech, Nat Mat, Nat Phys, Science, PRL or ACS nano. CC brings her world leading expertise in the production and characterisation of water-based 2D materials. CB and CC are both affiliated to the National Graphene Institute and board members of the Centre for Doctoral Training in sciences and applications of graphene and related 2D materials.
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