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Swansea University Medical School is the 3rd Best Medical School in the UK. Offering a range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses, the Medical School is ranked 1st in the UK for research environment (REF2014), and 2nd for overall research quality (REF2014). We educate and train tomorrow’s doctors and life scientists, offering an interdisciplinary approach to translational medicine, and conduct World-Leading quality research that delivers a real impact for health and wellbeing.

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The University of Exeter is a member of the UK’s Russell Group of leading research-intensive universities. It is ranked amongst the UK’s top 10 universities in the Higher Education league tables produced by the publisher of the Times and the Sunday Times national newspapers. It is also ranked amongst the world’s top 200 universities in the QS and Times Higher Education rankings. Exeter has to date been involved in 81 Horizon 2020 projects, including 42 as sole applicant or coordinator.

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The Adolphe Merkle Institute (AMI) is a leading Swiss interdisciplinary center at the University of Fribourg (UNIFR), focused exclusively on soft nanomaterials. The Institute was founded in 2008 and currently has 90 researchers, with a majority of PhD students. AMI is at the forefront of fundamental and application-orientated research on soft nanoscience, covering topics as broad as physics, chemistry, and biology. The Institute comprises five research groups. Research, education, and innovation are all part of its core activities.

The University of Fribourg, founded in 1889, is a public institution funded by canton Fribourg and the federal government. It is the only bilingual (French and German) university in Switzerland. It has approximately 10,000 students and 200 professors representing five faculties (Art and Humanities, Economics and Social Sciences, Law, Theology, Science and Medicine). The University offers a large number of Bachelors and Masters programs in both French and German, as well as in English.

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HWU is a research-led university specialising in science and engineering, business and management, languages and design. The Nano Safety Research Group (NSRG; http://nano.hw.ac.uk) hosted within the Institutes of Life and Earth Sciences (ILES; https://www.hw.ac.uk/schools/energy-geoscience-infrastructure-society/research/iles.htm); and the Institutes of Biological Chemistry, Biophysics and Bioengineering (IB3; https://www.hw.ac.uk/schools/engineering-physical-sciences/institutes/ib3.htm), which are multidisciplinary research centres that apply advances in the life and physical sciences and engineering to further biological understanding and knowledge. The NSRG specialises in the assessment of nanomaterial toxicity to human health and the environment. HWU has national and international collaborations with universities, government departments and agencies, industry and NGOs.

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LU is one of Europe's leading international research-intensive universities. Consistently ranked in the Top 100 according to the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) as well as the World University Ranking. The university has approximately 23,000 students and 5,500 staff members (including Leiden University Medical Center). The Faculty of Science of Leiden University consists of over 1250 scientists organized in 8 research institutes. Three of the institutes (Environmental Sciences, Biology, Drugs Research Centre) are involved in the PATROLS project. The ecotoxicology group (hosted within the Institute for Environmental Sciences) aims to increase the scientific understanding of how current and emerging anthropogenic threats affect environmental quality and biodiversity. Of vital importance for PATROLS is the Leiden Cell Observatory which is a well-established and successful cutting-edge bio imaging facility with state of the art equipment for automated live cell and zebrafish imaging of fluorescent protein reporter systems to evaluate adversity in the context of nanoparticle exposure. A recent innovative research facility is the Living Lab in which within environmental realistic setting experiments can be performed. The diverse fields of expertise of LU are essential to realise the objectives of PATROLS. Expertise in high throughput screening for zebrafish is here, which is unique in Europe for vertebrates. Also many bioassays have been performed with invertebrate species such as daphnids and other crustaceans. Furthermore dr. M.G. Vijver and prof.dr. W.J.G.M. Peijnenburg are highly experienced in risk assessment of nanoparticles and predictive fate and effect modelling, ecotoxicological knowledge, fate, behaviour, uptake, toxicity and trait-based ecophysiology (a basis for read-across), toxicogenomics (e.g. RNAseq and metabolomics) and bioinformatics (e.g. some aspects of AOP). Prof. dr. B. van de Water his research is focused on the integration knowledge of basic toxicity mechanisms in applied toxicological sciences. As part oft he FP7-supported SEURAT-1 consortium, his group established a platform of fluorescent protein reporters to qualify and quantify the activation of individual pathways of toxicity in living cells using automated imaging. These reporters are also used in 3D spheroid systems that have improved liver-like features.

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The University of Pisa is one of the largest and most well-established universities in Italy. The University of Pisa ranks in the top 200 universities (QS 2016) in the fields of Physics and Maths (top 100), Computer Science, Pharmacy, Medicine and Engineering (top 200). Centro di Ricerca “E. Piaggio” is an interdisciplinary research center of excellence in Bioengineering and Robotics. It is located in the School of Engineering and is dedicated to innovation and technology transfer, specialising in smart, biologically inspired materials and in-vitro and in-silico systems, artificial intelligence, soft robotics and autonomous vehicles. The Center has skilled technical staff and a project management team with over 10 years’ experience in management of small and large scale national and international projects.

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The Louvain Centre for Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology (LTAP) was established in 2009 at the Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain, Brussels) to conduct advanced research on the effects of xenobiotics on human health. LTAP’s specific focus is to unravel the physico-chemical determinants of nanomaterial toxicity and to identify molecular mechanisms of toxicity pathways for developing assays with a predictive potential. This group has broad expertise in studying the toxic mechanisms of inhaled particles and was among the very first worldwide (2005) to report on the respiratory toxicity of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) in rats. The Centre is fully equipped and has expertise to conduct in vivo (rat, mice) and in vitro studies with NM.

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University of Namur (UNamur), founded in 1831 by the Society of Jesus, is recognized by the high quality of its teaching and research, which ensured a growing international reputation and enabled it to conclude many cooperation agreements as well as to develop partnerships and exchange programmes involving students, researchers and professors from all over Europe and beyond. UNamur excels in sectors such as nanotechnology and nanotoxicology, biotechnology, physics and chemistry of surface. The results of research within the University have led to the filing of numerous patents, technology transfers to industry and the creation of a variety of spin off companies.

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DTU is the largest technical university in Scandinavia and currently has more than 1,100 PhD students enrolled. The Department of Environmental Engineering (DTU Environment) aims to develop technical and sustainable solutions to minimise the impact of society on the environment and humans through research and teaching at an international level. DTU Environment is one of the largest university groups in Europe specialising in environmental engineering, including among environmental chemistry and ecotoxicology. The National Food Institute at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU Food) carries out research into chemical food safety and has a large instrumental infrastructure for analytical chemistry of food contaminants, including nanoparticles.

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We are a consulting company, which uses the potential and experience of the research staff from the Laboratory of Environmental Chemometrics at the University of Gdansk for supporting chemical, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry in designing innovative products that are safe for human and for the environment.

When performing risk assessment we follow the highest standards of the existing European regulations, i.e. REACH regulation (1907/2006), cosmetics regulation (1223/2009), pesticides regulation (1107/2009) etc.

We apply advanced computational modeling techniques that enable decreasing cost, time and the number of necessary testing on laboratory animals, following the 3Rs principle (Replace, Reduce, Refine of laboratory animals). Computational methods, when comparing with traditional laboratory work, enable developing products that are safe-by-design by considering more than a thousand times larger amount of candidate chemicals.

In effect of various research projects conducted in collaboration with Polish Bureau for Chemical Substances, European Chemical Agency (EU), Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (Germany), National competence centre for Industrial Safety and Environmental Protection INERIS (France), The Institute of Occupational Medicine (UK), National Institute for Environmental Studies (Japan), NSF-CREST Interdisciplinary Center for Nanotoxicity (USA) our scientists are involved in creating the law and research standards in Poland, EU and other countries.

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Harvard Global Research and Support Services, Inc. is a supporting organisation of Harvard University and one of its main objectives is to make it possible for the academics at the University to participate in research funded by the European Union. The Center for Nanotechnology and Nanotoxicology at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard University (https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nano) brings together applications and environmental health and safety-implications research using state-of-the-art material and exposure science, in-vitro and in-vivo toxicology and risk assessment. In 2016, with competitive funding provided by NIH/NIEHS, the Harvard Chan-NIH/NIEHS Center for Nanosafety Research was established (www.hsph.harvard.edu/nanosafety) (PI and Director, Philip Demokritou). This Nanosafety Center is part of the NIH/NIEHS Nanotechnology Health Implication Research (NHIR) Consortium, which was also formed in 2016 to assess potential adverse health effects of emerging ENMs. Our Nanosafety Center performs and coordinates research, training, and outreach activities for the NIH/NIEHS NHIR Consortium at the national level. It brings together a number of collaborating research groups from MIT, University of Florida, University of Maine, and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) at Harvard. The center activities include: i) the development of high precision and throughput synthesis platforms for metal and metal oxides, cutting edge 2D/3D ENMs such as CNTs, graphene, h2BN, nanocellulose, and advanced nanocomposites; ii) establishment of the Harvard-NIEHS Reference ENM repository, one of the most extensive reference material library currently available for nanotoxicology research; and iii) development of innovative methods to assess the fate and transport of emerging ENMs in biological systems, as well as computational, toxicological, and exposure assessment tools.

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The University of South Carolina (USC) was established in 1801 and is a full-service, state-supported research university that includes the 358-acre Columbia Campus and seven regional campuses with a total full-time student body population of more than 46,000 and 2,100 full-time faculty members. The Arnold School of Public Health (ASPH) was established in 1975 and has an enrollment of more than 2,500 students majoring in public health, including 730 graduate students and 1800 undergraduates, in 30 bachelors, masters, and doctoral programs that prepare graduates for work primarily in health agencies, academic institutions, community organizations, and hospitals. The School currently employs 135 tenure, research, and clinical track faculty members. Based at USC's main campus in Columbia, ASPH is one of 63 U.S. schools of public health fully accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH), and is accredited through 2024. ASPH’s major mission is the improvement of public health status by preventing health hazards and by promoting improved health services through its research, education, and service programs. The Arnold School’s mission is to expand, disseminate, and apply the body of knowledge regarding prevention of disease, disability, and environmental degradation, and to promote health and well-being in diverse populations as well as the provision of effective, efficient, and equitable health services. The SmartState Center for Environmental Nanoscience and Risk (CENR) was established in August 2012 and is based within ASPH. It is a major academic center for the research, teaching and outreach in the applications and implications of nanomaterials and for the commercial development of environmentally friendly nanomaterials and works in areas from nanoparticle synthesis and characterization, through to regulation and education, all focused in the environmental nanoscience discipline.

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NFA is a government research institute under the Danish Ministry of Employment. The mission is to monitor, analyse and explore conditions in the working environment of importance to health, safety and work role functioning. NFA serves as a knowledge base for the administrative and legislative work of the Ministry of Employment. Furthermore, NFA disseminates research based knowledge to the social partners, enterprises and working environment counsellors, contributes to further education at the universities and serves as a gateway to working environment knowledge for enterprises through the Working Environment Information Centre. The NFA played a major role in establishing the scientific background knowledge for the development of the current National Working Environment Strategy 2010. The research strategy of the NFA is designed to support achievement of the goals of this national strategy just as it aims at preventing even longer term challenges. Occupational nanosafety plays a major part in one of of five strategic research areas at NFA performing studies of nanomaterial emissions in air, workplace measurements of occupational exposure to nanomaterials, physico-chemical characterisation of nanomaterials and in vivo hazard studies of nanoparticles, diesel exhaust particles, and other combustion derived particles with a focus on cancer, cardiovascular disease and prenatal toxicity.

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RIVM works to prevent and control outbreaks of infectious diseases. We promote public health and consumer safety, and we help to protect the quality of the environment. RIVM collects and collates knowledge and information from various sources, both national and international. We apply this knowledge ourselves, and we place it at the disposal of policymakers, researchers, regulatory authorities and the general public. Each year, RIVM produces numerous reports on all aspects of public health, nutrition and diet, health care, disaster management, nature and the environment. RIVM has a total of approximately 1,500 staff.

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European Research Services GmbH is a public-private partnership that supports researchers in planning and managing EU-projects. ERS provides technical and administrative support, adapting project-management to the size and complexity of each specific project. ERS helps to implement project infrastructure, risk assessment, internal communication, monitoring and common standard procedures, safeguarding outcomes within time, budget, and EU guidelines.

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The NC3Rs is a UK-based scientific organisation dedicated to replacing, refining and reducing the use of animals in research and testing. Established in 2004, the organisation supports the commitment of the scientific community to the 3Rs by funding research and early career development, supporting open innovation and the commercialisation of 3Rs technologies, and stimulating changes in policy, regulations and practice.

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Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) is the National Metrology Institute representing the Republic of Korea. As a government-funded research institute, KRISS has provided the foundation for the advancement of science and technology through the establishment of national measurement standards, undertaken R&D on measurement technologies, and been responsible dissemination of national measurement standards. In KRISS, the Centre for Nanosafety Metrology seeks to develop standard in vitro and in vivo measurement techniques for nanomaterial characterisation and nanotoxicity evaluation, as well as developing sample preparation methods for toxicity testing.

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The IOM is a major independent centre of scientific excellence in the fields of occupational and environmental health, hygiene and safety and has established a leading presence on chemical- and nanotechnology-risk issues through an international reputation in assessing the risk of small particles and fibres. In support of regulation and industrial innovation, IOM brings extensive expertise in hazard, exposure and risk assessment for nanomaterials and nanotechnology, as well as in-depth skills and experience in the management of nano-EHS related data and information.

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ISTEC is one of the Institutes of the National Research Council (CNR), located in Faenza, in the north-east of Italy. Its research is interdisciplinary and specifically addressed to the global study of ceramic materials and in particular of advanced ceramics. CNR is the largest public research institution in Italy, divided into 113 Institutes spread across Italy and employing about 8,000 researchers. This network of Institutes aims to promote a wide range of research competences nationally, seeking to facilitate contacts and cooperate with local firms and organisations. Experienced in the field of colloidal science, ISTEC conducts research in ENM physico-chemical identity, characterisation, colloidal control and dosimetry in complex biological systems with realistic ENM exposure conditions.

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The IUF – Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine investigates the molecular mechanisms through which particles, radiation and environmental chemicals harm human health. The main working areas are environmentally induced aging of the cardiopulmonar system and the skin as well as disturbances of the nervous and immune system. Through development of novel model systems the IUF contributes to the improvement of risk assessment and the development of novel strategies for the prevention / therapy of environmentally induced health damage.

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BASF seeks to create chemistry for a sustainable future, combining economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. Through sustainable science and innovation, BASF aims to strengthen its position as the world’s leading chemical company with innovations set to play a key roles in three particular area: resources, environment and climate; food and nutrition; quality of life.

BASF’s Material Physics Department provides extensive experience in characterisation of nanomaterials along their life-cycle. BASF’s Experimental Toxicology Department routinely performs regulatory studies and was awarded for the development and implementation of alternative test methods. The combined expertise has lead to the development of robust methods to assess the safety of nanomaterials for more than a decade.

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InSphero, founded in 2009, is a leading supplier of organotypic in vitro 3D microtissues for predictive drug testing and is employs more than 50 employees in Switzerland and the US. InSphero 3D Insight™ Microtissues enable more biologically relevant in vitro applications in efficacy and safety assessment, including long-term and inflammation-mediated toxicity testing. The main strategic focus of the company lies in the area of liver toxicology, oncology, and disease modelling, mainly targeting customers in the pharmaceutical, cosmetics and chemical industries.

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The SME Misvik Biology Oy (Misvik) provides cell biological research services, cutting-edge research for imaging-based and plate-based high-throughput biology and specialised microscopy image analysis services. Misvik’s mission is to convert cell biological assays into high-throughput or ultra-high-content biology experiments and provide systems level information about cellular processes in health and disease.

The company is actively involved in several nano-oriented EU-funded projects that drive the development of new multi-readout test strategies and standard operating procedures with many relevant to biological assays adopted to study toxicity mechanisms and Adverse Outcome Pathways (AOP), and provides means for predicting and avoiding unwanted toxicity effects.

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The Nanotechnology Industries Association (NIA) is the only global industry-focused trade association for nanotechnology. The NIA supports nanotechnology within commercial applications by ensuring a strong industry voice is present in global nanotech policy and regulatory discussions. On behalf of itsdiverse membership, the NIA is involved in a number of international forums, and national and international advisory groups and standardisation committees. Membership is open to organisations that are engaged in nanotechnologies, including SMEs and large companies, expert service providers, universities and research centres, government organisations and national nanotechnology networks.

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JBRC, established in 1984, is a government-funded institution for GLP-compliant toxicology located in Hadano City, Kanagawa Prefecture, about 75 km south-west of Tokyo station (90 minutes by car or train). It has undertaken bioassays of up to two years for rodent whole-body inhalation studies of gaseous substances and particulate matter including nanoparticles, oral rodent toxicology; studies of up to two years for oral carcinogenesis studies, short term rodent intratracheal studies, mutagenesis studies for gaseous substances; and some basic toxicological research.

Health Canada is the Federal department responsible for helping Canadians maintain and improve their health, to which it relies on high quality scientific research to achieve its goals. Among others functions, Health Canada promotes innovation and best practice across Canada and regulates food, health and consumer products, setting national standards to keep Canadians safe. The Environmental Health Science and Research Bureau is one of several research bureaus under the Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch of Health Canada. The mandate of this bureau is to reduce the negative impacts of environmental exposures on the health of Canadians through research, surveillance, monitoring, epidemiological investigations and emergency planning.

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