NBI [1] is short for the Nanomaterial-Biological Interactions Knowledgebase, located at Oregon State University. The knowledgebase serves as a repository for annotated data on nanomaterials characterization (purity, size, shape, charge, composition, functionalization, agglomeration state), synthesis methods, and nanomaterial-biological interactions (beneficial, benign or deleterious) defined at multiple levels of biological organization (molecular, cellular, organismal). Computational and data mining tools are currently being developed and incorporated into the NBI to provide a logical framework to conduct species, route, dose, and scenario extrapolations and identify key data required to predict the biological interactions of nanomaterials.
Oregon State University (OSU) is a public research university in Corvallis, Oregon. The university offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It is also the largest university in the state, with a total enrollment exceeding 28,000. More than 230,000 students have graduated from OSU since its founding. The Carnegie Foundation designates Oregon State University as a "Community Engagement" university and classifies it as a doctoral university with a status of "Highest research activity".
Nanomaterials describe, in principle, materials of which a single unit is sized between 1 to 1000 nanometres but usually is 1 to 100 nm.
Flocculation, in the field of chemistry, is a process in which colloids come out of suspension in the form of floc or flake, either spontaneously or due to the addition of a clarifying agent. The action differs from precipitation in that, prior to flocculation, colloids are merely suspended in a liquid and not actually dissolved in a solution. In the flocculated system, there is no formation of a cake, since all the flocs are in the suspension.
Information currently being gained in the emerging field of nanotechnology is extremely diverse including a multitude of widely varying nanomaterials that are being or will be tested in a broad array of animal systems and in vitro assays. Knowledge of nanomaterial-biological interactions will likely only be arrived at upon inclusion and consideration of the entire body of data produced from global efforts in this research area. Compilation of this data will allow for the definition of nanomaterial structure-activity relationships. Such mathematical representations can be used to predict nanomaterial properties in the absence of empirical data.
Nanotechnology ("nanotech") is manipulation of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal of precisely manipulating atoms and molecules for fabrication of macroscale products, also now referred to as molecular nanotechnology. A more generalized description of nanotechnology was subsequently established by the National Nanotechnology Initiative, which defines nanotechnology as the manipulation of matter with at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometers. This definition reflects the fact that quantum mechanical effects are important at this quantum-realm scale, and so the definition shifted from a particular technological goal to a research category inclusive of all types of research and technologies that deal with the special properties of matter which occur below the given size threshold. It is therefore common to see the plural form "nanotechnologies" as well as "nanoscale technologies" to refer to the broad range of research and applications whose common trait is size. Because of the variety of potential applications, governments have invested billions of dollars in nanotechnology research. Through 2012, the USA has invested $3.7 billion using its National Nanotechnology Initiative, the European Union has invested $1.2 billion, and Japan has invested $750 million.
In vitro studies are performed with microorganisms, cells, or biological molecules outside their normal biological context. Colloquially called "test-tube experiments", these studies in biology and its subdisciplines are traditionally done in labware such as test tubes, flasks, Petri dishes, and microtiter plates. Studies conducted using components of an organism that have been isolated from their usual biological surroundings permit a more detailed or more convenient analysis than can be done with whole organisms; however, results obtained from in vitro experiments may not fully or accurately predict the effects on a whole organism. In contrast to in vitro experiments, in vivo studies are those conducted in animals, including humans, and whole plants.
