eohsi news and announcements

March 9, 2022

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), School of Public Health and the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute (EOHSI) at Rutgers University, signed a memorandum of understanding for research collaboration in the emerging area of advanced materials and potential health effects. Advanced materials such as engineered nanomaterials and micronanoplastics, a byproduct of mechanical, thermal and chemical degradation of plastic materials over the years, due to their unique physico-chemical properties can bypass biological barriers and interact with biological and environmental systems and are known to cause environmental health effects. The recently established at Rutgers Nanoscience and Advanced Materials Research Center (NAMC), which is directed by Dr. Philip Demokritou who is the Henry Rutgers Chair in Nanoscience and Environmental Bioengineering and Professor in the Department of Environmental Occupational Health and Justice at the School of Public Health will share advanced materials synthesized in the center specifically to enable risk assessors and toxicologists to study the impact of such advanced materials. More importantly, it will open opportunities for faculty and students to collaborate with FDA Scientists and share expertise in this emerging and important area. Professor Demokritou stated that “…This MoU will enable our Center to continue its productive research collaboration with FDA on nanomaterials and expand it to other emerging environmental contaminants and bring faculty and students from FDA and SPH together to tackle EHS challenges of the 21^st century…”