Iraj Aalaei is a graduate student from the laboratory of Prof. Dhimiter Bello, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Center for High-rate Nanomanufacturing. The group is using Izon’s instruments in nanotoxicology research with interest in the biological significance of exposure, exposure routes, measurement issues and metrics, the relationship between the physical properties of nanoparticles with health outcomes.
One of the research themes in our lab focuses on development and evaluation of toxicity screening approaches for engineered nano-materials (ENM) in particular oxidative stress. We conduct various acellular and cellular assays for this purpose and utilize several techniques for extensive physicochemical and morphological characterization of ENM in dry state as well as in solution. Characterization of ENM forms a critical part of our study as these parameters are used for further analysis and linking them with toxicological endpoints.
With regards to qNano our initial work has been focused on optimizing the methodology for measuring size distributions of different ENM populations in serum and in cell culture medium. We are also interested in potential uses of this technique for better cellular dosimetry, for studying interaction of ENM with the biological medium and inferring about the particle shape in solution based on blockade trace.
