This conference grant proposal seeks support for the 5th International Symposium on Nanotechnology, Occupational and Environmental Health, will be held in Boston, Mass., USA, from August 9-12, 2011. The Symposium will be held at the Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel. The host organizations for the Symposium are the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UML), the Center for High-rate Nanomanufacturing (CHN), and the Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI). The co-chairs are Dr. Su-Jung (Candace) Tsai and Dr. Michael Ellenbecker. Independent of this proposal, NIOSH has agreed to be a sponsor of the Symposium. The Symposium program is organized around three themes, i.e., engineered nanoparticle toxicology and adverse health effects, occupational health, and environmental health;two of the themes are directly relevant to NIOSH's mission. Parallel sessions will be held in these three areas throughout the Symposium. If awarded, NIOSH financial support will be used to pay for student scholarships and for salary support for the TURI events assistant who will do much of the administrative work in support of the Symposium.
This Symposium is concerned with the occupational health implications of working with engineered nanoparticles. This new field is a strong focus of NIOSH, and the possible adverse public health implications can be significant. The attendees will obtain the most recent information on the toxicity, worker exposure, and environmental health impacts of working with engineered nanoparticles, which they will then be able to apply to their work and pass on to their colleagues.
