From Plastics to the Micro-Nanoplastics Crisis: Emerging Evidence, Risks and Solutions

Join the Wyss Institute for a talk with Philip Demokritou, PhD, Henry Rutgers Chair and Professor, Rutgers Biomedical Health Sciences & School of Engineering, Rutgers University; Director, Division of Environmental and Population Health Biosciences, Environmental Occupational Health Sciences Institute (EOHSI); Director, Rutgers EH Nanoscience and Advanced Materials Center (NAMC); Co-Editor in Chief, Nano-IMPACT (ELSEVIER)

Abstract: Micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) are the byproducts of the environmental degradation of plastics across their life cycle. Mounting evidence of increasing MNP contamination of our natural environments, including contamination of the food chain, drinking water, and air, makes human population exposure inevitable. More alarmingly, emerging evidence from human biomonitoring studies also confirmed the presence of MNPs in human tissues and organs, including the placenta, blood, lung, brain, and liver. While epidemiological studies linking MNP exposures to disease outcomes are lacking behind, there is an urgency to assess the bioactivity and toxicological footprint of environmentally relevant “real-world” MNPs and identify potential health risks. This seminar will focus on a number of ongoing MNP research projects in the Rutgers EH Nanoscience and Advanced Materials Center (NAMC). Findings will include the fate of environmentally relevant MNPs in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) and their bioactivity using advanced cellular and in-vivo animal models, MNP uptake mechanisms in the small intestinal epithelium, effects on digestion and absorption of nutrients, effects on innate immune function, interactions of MNPs with other environmental contaminants (EPs) and effect on toxicity and bioavailability of both MNPs and EPs, interactions of MNPs with edible plants and effect on nutrition, and in-utero exposures to MNPs and transgenerational effects.