Manufactured nanomaterials are an ideal test case of the precautionary principle due to their novelty and potential environmental release. In the context of regulation, it is difficult to implement for manufactured nanomaterials as current testing paradigms identify risk late into the production process, slowing down innovation and increasing costs. One proposed concept, namely safe(r)-by-design, is to incorporate risk and hazard assessment into the design process of novel manufactured nanomaterials by identifying risks early. When investigating the manufacturing process for nanomaterials, differences between products will be very similar along key physicochemical properties and biological endpoints at the individual level may not be sensitive enough to detect differences whereas lower levels of biological organization may be able to detect these variations. In this sense, the present study used a transcriptomic approach on Mytilus edulis hemocytes following an in vitro and in vivo exposure to three carbon nanofibers created using different production methods. Integrative modeling was used to identify if gene expression could be in linked to physicochemical features. The results suggested that gene expression was more strongly associated with the carbon structure of the nanofibers than chemical purity. With respect to the in vitro/in vivo relationship, results suggested an inverse relationship in how the physicochemical impact gene expression.

人造纳米材料具有新颖性和潜在的环境释放性，是预防原则的理想测试案例。在法规的背景下，由于当前的测试范式在生产过程的后期识别风险，减慢了创新并增加了成本，因此很难对制成的纳米材料实施。一种提出的概念，即设计安全，是通过及早发现风险，将风险和危害评估纳入新型人造纳米材料的设计过程中。在调查纳米材料的制造过程时，产品之间的差异沿关键的理化性质将非常相似，并且个体水平上的生物学终点可能不够灵敏以检测差异，而较低水平的生物组织则可能能够检测到这些差异。从这个意义上讲，本研究使用了转录组学方法在体外和体内暴露于使用不同生产方法产生的三种碳纳米纤维后，紫草菌的血细胞。整合建模用于鉴定基因表达是否可以与理化特征相关联。结果表明，基因表达与纳米纤维的碳结构比化学纯度更紧密相关。关于体外/体内关系，结果表明在物理化学如何影响基因表达方面成反比关系。