The NanoCommons e-infrastructure – A quick guide to what and how of nanoinformatics in safety assessment suiting basic to expert users in academia, industry, and regulatory agencies

Abstract

NanoCommons is a research e-infrastructure project offering access to high quality nanoinformatics services for nanosafety assessors in academia, industry, regulatory agencies. It is user-led, offering and developing the services needed by the user community of nanotechnology, nanosafety and related fields. NanoCommons is built on 3 main pillars: joint research activities, networking activities and transnational access services, covering four categories relevant for nanosafety assessment: experimental workflows design and implementation; data processing and analysis; data visualisation and predictive toxicity; data storage and online accessibility. These services are designed to promote data FAIRness (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable), a key NanoCommons goal, that can be made Open through the NanoCommons Knowledgebase. Thus, NanoCommons provides innovative solutions for data mining, harmonisation, utilisation and re-utilisation, including incorporation of a range of modelling and decision support tools that require and/or can produce organised, high-quality datasets. A number of online training tools have been developed for each of the offered services to help users chose the services relevant to their research questions and applications. The NanoCommons infrastructure encompassing a training library shall bridge academic research with industry and regulators, as recommended by the EU NanoSafety Cluster‘s “Closer to the Market” Research Roadmap serving the Safe-by-Design concept in nanotechnology.