Research measures movement of nanomaterials in simple model food chain

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Photomicrograph of ciliate T. pyriformis during cell division with accumulated quantum dots appearing red. Credit: NIST
Photomicrograph of ciliate T. pyriformis during cell division with accumulated quantum dots appearing red. Credit: NIST

New research in Nature Nanotechnology shows that while engineered nanomaterials can be transferred up the lowest levels of the food chain from single celled organisms to higher multicelled ones, the amount transferred was relatively low and there was no evidence of the nanomaterials concentrating in the higher level organisms. The preliminary results observed by researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology suggest that the particular nanomaterials studied may not accumulate in invertebrate food chains.


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