[Interview] Get to know the SAbyNA Platform

2024/02/05

As you may know the main objective of SAbyNA is to develop the overarching integrative and interactive web-based SAbyNA Platform to support the development of safer nano-enabled products (NEPs) towards safer nanoforms (NFs) and safer nano processes over the whole life cycle, with advanced functionalities tailored to two industrial sectors: Additives manufacturing and paints.

In this interview with the ThinkWorks platform development team, you can learn in detail and in depth about the status and progress of the platform.

Let’s start!

1. How is the development of the new SAbyNA Platform progressing? In March 2023, a second version (v0.6) of the Platform was released to get internal feedback from our SAbyNA industrial partners. Indeed, as the first version (v0.5) was mainly focused on a newly developed screening part, the second release is about the integration of specific GUIDEnano modules into the SAbyNA Platform to accommodate a more detailed assessment. In parallel, a hazard (testing) strategy is being developed by the scientific partners within the project and its workflow has been introduced in the platform. The next step, and the most challenging one, will be linking it with the Safe-By-Design (SbD) strategies.

2. How did you start with the idea of having a web-based Platform? The original idea was to have a Platform containing resources (e.g., guidelines and tools) to support SbD concepts specifically targeted in two sectors: additive manufacturing and paints. The Platform should also include an updated SbD version of the GUIDEnano tool.

As ThinkWorks implemented the nano-specific risk assessment tool GUIDEnano, the GRACIOUS blueprint test environment for grouping and read-across, and the SbD4Nano e-Infrastructure (NMBP-15 sister project), a strategic design decision was made to develop both the SAbyNA Platform and SbD4Nano e-Infrastructure with a shared modular approach. The configuration of the SbD scenario describing the products and materials involved as well as the use descriptions, contributing activities, and the identification of the potential hazard hotspots along the life cycle is shared among the two projects. However, each project has developed its own hazard/ exposure and SbD approaches and, as they target different steps early in the design phase, they can be considered complementary to each other.

3. What have been the biggest challenges? The main scientific challenge during the development of the SAbyNA Guidance Platform was to get a better mechanistic understanding on which physicochemical property of the NFs and the NEPs is driving the release/exposure, hazard, and product performance along the life cycle of these materials. In the ‘traditional’ risk assessment, the identification of Occupational Exposure Limits (OELs) and Derived No Effect Levels (DNELs) for the quantification of exposure and hazard effects does not require any mechanistic understanding of the NF/NEP properties causing the release/exposure or hazard of these materials.

Moreover, as the Safe-By-Design (SbD) concept has been used by a broad spectrum of stakeholders (e.g., manufacturers, researchers, and regulators) to support the development of methods and strategies to control and minimize the risks of NF/NEPs at the early stage of product development, another challenge is that a lack of data needed to select ad hoc SbD strategies for NF/NEP is very likely. In addition, read-across or grouping options might be very limited for new types of nanoforms.

From a tool development perspective, finding a good balance between usability (user experience) and getting meaningful / more reliable results out of it with real added value for the end-user is very challenging. The identification of SbD approaches along the life cycle of NEPs requires a lot of information from the user to be entered into the platform to feed into the integrated models.

4. What do you see as the Platform’s strengths? The SAbyNA Platform offers a selection of SbD-related resources including a dedicated tool for integrating a screening assessment of NF/NEP with an in-depth assessment all in a single model.

5. What sales pitch would you give to someone who owns a paint company and is considering using a platform like the one SAbyNA is developing in the future?

Any company using NFs in their products can utilize the Platform to screen for potential hazards and/or exposure and select ad hoc SbD strategies for their innovative products.

6. What are your suggestions to NF/ NEP producers interested in using the SAbyNA platform? 

Any company using NFs in their products can utilize the Platform to screen for potential hazards and/or exposure and select ad hoc SbD strategies for their innovative products.

7. What impact do you think the Platform will have on society?

The impact on society will ultimately be safer usage of nanotechnology in daily life, where the true benefits of nano-scaled solutions can be optimality exploited with the lowest negative impact on our health or environment.

8. What are the next steps?

Within the last year of the project, the focus will be extending the Platform with the newly developed knowledge and further refinement based on the feedback from industrial partners (both internal and external of the project) and stakeholders resulting in version 1 of the Platform.

Remember to follow the project at https://www.linkedin.com/company/sabynahorizon2020 and sign up for the newsletter: http://sabyna.eu/newsletter