James Bonner awarded NIEHS Grand Opportunity Grant to Study Toxic Effects of Nanomaterials

James Bonner was awarded a National Institute of Environmental Health Science (NIEHS) Grand Opportunity grant that will study the mechanisms through which carbon nanotubes, tiny engineered graphene tubes, cause disease in the lungs in mice. Carbon nanotubes are a major type of engineered nanomaterial that resemble asbestos fibers in shape, which has led to concern over possible human health effects. This grant also funds a collaborative venture with Dr. Gregory Parsons’ laboratory in The Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at NC State to understand how modification of nanomaterials at the atomic scale affects toxicity. This research will follow recent NIEHS-funded work by the Bonner lab published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology (http://news.ncsu.edu/releases/wmsbonnernanotubes/).