Introduction - Research Progress on Environmental Health and Safety Aspects of Engineered Nanomaterials - page 7

and tool development necessary to move the research enterprise forward. The committee believes that the
indicators remain appropriate for evaluating research and implementation progress. 4 The committee was
not able to reevaluate the resource estimates from the first report, as more current funding information
was not available.
The committee has developed a graphical construct in Chapter 4 (shown here as Figure 1-2)
that complements Figure 1-1 and provides a vision for the EHS nanotechnology research enterprise.
Figure 1-2 describes the interrelated and interdependent research activities that are driven by ENM
production and highlights the importance of a coordinated research infrastructure.

INVENTORIES

MATERIALS

REFERENCE ENM RELEASES

KNOWLEDGE
COMMONS

LABORATORY
WORLD

REAL
WORLD

VALIDATION

SCREENING TOOLS

MODELS

METHODS/INSTRUMENTS METHODS/INSTRUMENTS

RISK

DECISION MAKING

FIGURE 1-2 Nanotechnology environmental, health, and safety research enterprise. The diagram shows the
integrated and interdependent research activities that are driven by the production of ENMs. The production of
ENMs is captured by the orange oval, labeled “materials”, which includes reference materials, ENM releases,
and inventories. (An inventory is a quantitative estimate of the location and amounts of nanomaterials produced
or current production capacity, including the properties of the nanomaterial.) The knowledge commons (red box)
is the locus for collaborative development of methods, models, and materials, and for archiving and sharing data.
The “laboratory world” and “real world” (green boxes) feed into the knowledge commons. The laboratory world
comprises process-based and mechanism-based research that is directed at understanding the physical, chemical,
and biologic properties or processes that are most critical for assessing exposures and hazards and hence risk
(NRC 2012, p. 55). The “real world” includes complex systems research involving observational studies that
examine the effects of ENMs on people and ecosystems. The purple boxes capture the range of methods, tools,
models, and instruments that support generation of research in the laboratory world, the real world, and the
knowledge commons.

4 In the period between the first and second reports, no substantial changes in market or regulatory conditions
that would influence research priorities were noted.