On May 22nd, a workshop entitled “International Workshop on safe implementation of nanomaterials in plastic industry, SI2P” took place in Toulouse (France) in the context of the NanoDesk project.
Rafael Gozalbes -director of ProtoQSAR- gave a seminar entitled “Development and application of QSAR models for hazard profiling”. Rafael first exposed the possibilities of computational methods for the prediction of properties of nanomaterials (NMs). Next, he described the advances in the development of QSAR models by the NanoDesk specialized groups: the ICETA-REQUIMTE group of the University of Oporto, the BIOCENIT group of the Rovira Virgili University of Tarragona and the ProtoQSAR team. Different models were presented: a generic model for the prediction of toxicity in its broadest sense, and specific models for the prediction of genotoxicity, chronic toxicity (LOAEL), acute toxicity (LC50) and toxicity in Daphnia magna. Despite the difficulty involved in developing models for this type of substances, the results can be considered very satisfactory, and they constitute a highly relevant innovation in the field of NMs. Rafael also had the opportunity to answer the different questions raised by the attendees, most of them representatives of different plastics companies, who were particularly interested in the application of predictive models at the regulatory level.
This event was organized by professors Dr. Virginie Serin and Dr. Alain Claverie, of the Centre d’Elaboration de Matériaux et d’Etudes Structurales (CEMES), belonging to the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), and collaborators of the NanoDesk project.
