Abstract :

Production and use of nanoparticles are key technologies in the EU's strategy of increased competitiveness of the European Industry. They pose issues on potential hazards to workers, since their very high surface area to volume ratio makes them highly reactive. Evidence is raising serious concern amongst the occupational health community over these risks, especially chronic inflammatory diseases in the pulmonary and cardiovascular systems, creating an overwhelming need for personal monitoring of workers exposed to engineered nanoparticles. There is currently no device that directly assesses workers exposure to, and the toxicity of, engineered nanoparticles,and monitoring remains limited to expensive laboratory ambient air analysis. The objective of this PhD position is to develop and validate new technologies dedicated to workers exposure survey, which will combine chemical analyses using optical spectroscopy like for example LIBS (Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy) or fluorescence and physical analyses like Electronic Microscopy or mass spectrometry. In particular, atomic micro-probe spectroscopy based on LIBS technique will be developed for physical and chemical characterisation, producing 3D mapping of nanoparticles deposited or trapped on subtracts. Such techniques will be associated to fluorescence spectroscopy in order to correlate fluorescence imaging and nanoparticles localisation. Thus, speed and depth of penetration will be determined using micro-LIBS, which will facilitate a comprehensive toxico-kinetic study, while correlation with the fluorescence measurements will provide crucial toxicological information, including cell response to particles type, size, concentration, etc...

The PhD student will join the optical unit at INERIS and will benefit of the help of other research groups and end users, all partners being involved in several European research projects.