JEROME ROSE rose@cerege.fr
CEREGE CNRS- Université Aix-Marseille, FR ECCOREV, Europole de l'Arbois 13545 Aix en
Provence France
Tel: 04 42 97 15 29
Dr. Jérôme Rose is a senior scientist at the CEREGE (CNRS) since 1997 and serves as adjunct
faculty at Rice University and Duke University. He obtained an Engineering degree in
geosciences and a doctorate from the Lorraine National Polytechnic Institute (France). He has
supervised fourteen Ph.D. students and two postdoctoral researchers. Dr. Rose was the 2006
recipient of the bronze medal from the CNRS for excellence of research. He has published 45
papers in peer review journals and 12 proceedings with review committee. His research focuses
on the behavior and toxicity of colloids and contaminants from laboratory to field scale. He is
employing intensively synchrotron-based techniques to study mechanisms at a molecular level.
Dr. Rose has been involved in research on the environmental impact of nanotechnology since at
least 2001 and is one of the inventors of the ferroxane® nanoparticles. He headed up one of the
first French National multidisciplinary programs addressing the potential health effect of
nanoparticles, entitled "Surface Properties of Manufactured Nanoparticles: Mutagenetic Effects,
Mechanisms of Bio-degradation and Accumulation" (2003-2005).
ENVIRONMENT AND NANOTECHNOLOGY : OPPORTUNITIES FOR POLLUTION TREATMENT OR
NEW POLLUTANTS
Jérôme Rose*, Mélanie Auffan, Armand Masion, Jérôme Labille, Clément levard, Daniel Borschneck,
Perrine Chaurand, Jean-Yves Bottero
The technological, scientific, and commercial developments inspired by nanoscience suggests a
technological and industrial revolution that may have substantial societal dimensions. In
addition to considerable advances in the area of energy, electronic, sanitation etc…,
nanotechnologies may impact human health and our environment. Many of these impacts will
be beneficial. Indeed nanotechnologies present opportunities for resolving major environmental
issues, derived from intriguing differences between the behavior of materials when they are
present in bulk or as nano-scale objects. For instance, a greater reactivity is often ascribed to
nanoparticles due to a high surface/volume ratio: more than 40% of atoms are at the surface of
particle for diameters lower than 10 nm. Such differences in reactivity might be exploited to
improve surface-based reactions in engineered systems (water treatment or soil remediation
processes). But such reactivity and small size may induce some specific undesired environmental
and biological effects.
The aim of our talk is to present the research developed at the CEREGE (since at least 2002) in
strong collaboration with biologists, toxicologist but also physicist to better assess the potential
of nanoparticles to treat pollutions as well as their environmental behavior (dispersion,
bioavailability, biodegradation …), ecotoxicity (transfer to the food chain…) and toxicity (cyto
and genotoxicity). The CEREGE work is based on a strong correlation between the fate and
reactivity of nanomaterials with a complete physico-chemical characterization of the
nanomaterials down to the molecular level using various microscopic and spectroscopic
techniques. Several examples will be presented starting with the reactivity of nano-iron oxide
that exhibit unique properties for water treatment, to the study of fullerene behavior in aquatic
system, and from the toxicological effects of nano iron and cerium oxides on several biological
targets.