Going Beyond Green - Research Progress on Environmental Health and Safety Aspects of Engineered Nanomaterials - page 78

projects that lay out the key participants, goals, methods, models, underlying hypotheses, resource levels,
schedules, and expected deliverables, and resulting publications or other avenues to access findings could
be vital for adapting the priorities of nanotechnology EHS research in the United States. The availability
of such information on line and regularly updated would serve to stimulate interactions, identify gaps, and
avoid unnecessary duplication by researchers. It would also facilitate oversight of the nanomaterial
research program and provide greater accountability for research progress. It may be possible to engage
researchers to offer snapshots or meta-analyses of the state of knowledge in their own fields, and this
information could feed into an adaptive decision-making process that constantly evaluates the evolving
consensus developing in the research community on such key issues as those presented in Chapter 4.
Finally, the knowledge commons would provide context for addressing and satisfying the widely
recognized need for improved terminology for ENM structures, experiments, characteristics, models,
effects, and uses. It is vital that the terminology used in one study be compatible with that used in other
studies. An ideal solution envisions a common taxonomy for all nanomaterials, methods, and risk-related
data; however, attempts at even the simplest nomenclature have been under way for years and have yet to
yield universally accepted definitions of even the most basic ENMs.
A more pragmatic approach would be to develop ontologies and thesauruses that in effect map a
given set of defined terms onto other commonly used sets to permit data to be fully shared even if
researchers in different disciplines adopt different conventions for nomenclature formatting and reporting.
Bioinformatics provides relevant examples of what can be accomplished with these techniques; for
example, the National Cancer Institute's Metathesaurus provides synonyms that link cancer research and
trial resources (NCI 2013) and linkages to hundreds of resources accessible through the National Library
of Medicine (NLM 2013). There is far less controversy in defining ontologies for particular domains of
knowledge and practice, but ontologies require the deep engagement of the research community in
mapping terms among disciplines, conventions, and business practices. Without such tools, progress
toward the ideal laid out in Chapter 4 and the NNI's own research strategy will be severely compromised.
Ultimately, the goal would be to encourage all researchers to label and organize their materials by
using one of several accepted and defined ontologies. There will need to be a working convention that
describes target materials of interest and presents several options for their nomenclature. The terminology
challenge extends to the description of the key characteristics and properties of ENMs at different levels
of granularity—from atomistic and molecular through single particles, aggregates, structures, and systems
for use in experiments, models, manufacture, and application. ENMs' properties determine their novel or
enhanced physical, chemical, and biologic behavior, and future definitions can incorporate readily
measurable properties, such as particle diameter and size distribution. Decision-makers charged in the
near term with inventorying or registering ENMs have sometimes adopted definitions out of necessity,
and these frameworks could be the basis of ontologies. If those approaches are coupled with the ability to
adapt rapidly to new findings or growing consensus in the research community, they are likely to become
widely adopted.
Ontologies are tools for researchers and should not be used to generalize ENM properties or risks.
As has been shown in multiple studies, the starting features of an ENM are only a few of the many
attributes that define their actions in biologic or environmental systems. As scientific understanding
grows, the best terms for describing ENM properties will become clearer to the community. Ontologies
provide an excellent approach for capturing that evolution in that they will allow publications from the
1990s to be related to more recent literature. However, achieving such results will require continuing
investment in not only the informatics infrastructure but the personnel required to maintain the enterprise:
the data scientists, curators, and informaticists necessary to define terms authoritatively, evaluate the
quality and reproducibility of experimental data and models, conduct validations, and aid users. Support
of these activities by research scientists will be necessary, particularly in providing expert opinion and
analyses. Equally important is the recognition that informatics specialists provide crucial capabilities for
planning, developing, and using the infrastructure discussed here (Monastersky 2013).