Thesis supervisor: Balázs Kakasi
Location of studies (in Hungarian): University of Pannonia Abbreviation of location of studies: PE
Description of the research topic:
In recent decades, the use of nanoparticles has exploded in many areas of life. They can be found in every day common products including cosmetics, textiles, sports equipment, electronic devices and other industrial products, but it is also important to highlight medical applications and pharmaceuticals.
Due to their size, nanoparticles have a high surface/volume ratio, which by their very nature gives them special properties. Their exploitation has enormous potential, which is the reason behind the increased interest in nanoparticle research. The literature on the subject is growing rapidly, but there are still many unanswered questions.
In addition to their undisputed beneficial properties, their size alone poses a significant potential threat to living organisms. Nanoparticles are being released into the environment in an increasing rate, although little is known about their environmental and biological effects. Recent scientific publications on the subject have consistently highlighted the scarcity of available information and encouraged the research community to conduct research in this area. The toxicological results obtained so far on nanoparticles suggest that the toxicity of nanoparticles is not always proportional to the dose, which is the basic assumption of classical toxicology, but rather their size, shape, surface properties, chemical composition and some other parameters determine their toxicity.
The aim of the PhD work is to investigate the complex cyto- and genotoxicology of some practically relevant nanoparticle types of different shapes and sizes. The work will address the question of how the size and shape of each particle type influences and through which cellular mechanisms their potential toxicity is mediated.
The work will involve the synthesis of nanoparticles of different material qualities, shapes and sizes, so-called "0", "1" and "2" dimensions, through well-defined biological and chemical pathways.
Their basic physical properties (size, shape) and chemical composition are then determined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM).
In the next step, the effects on different human cell lines (HepG2, A549, HCT) will be characterized in detail by in vitro cytotoxicity assays. For this purpose, fluorescence staining procedures based on flow cytometry and ELISA-based assays are available to characterize the cytotoxic effects on different cell parameters, as well as genotoxic effects using the Comet assay.
Required language skills: English Further requirements: MSc in Biology, Environmental Sciences or any related field.
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