The rapid rate of discovery and development in the nanotechnology field will undoubtedly
increase both human and environmental exposures to engineered nanomaterials. Whether these
exposures pose a significant risk remains uncertain. Despite recent collective progress
there remain gaps in our understanding of the nanomaterials physiochemical properties that
drive or dictate biological responses. The development and implementation of rapid
relevant and efficient testing strategies to assess these emerging materials prior to
large-scale exposures could help advance this exciting field. I present a powerful
approach that utilizes a dynamic in vivo zebrafish embryonic assay to rapidly define the
biological responses to nanomaterial exposures. Early developmental life stages are often
uniquely sensitive to environmental insults, due in part to the enormous changes in
cellular differentiation, proliferation and migration required to form the required cell
types, tissues and organs. Molecular signaling underlies all of these processes. Most
toxic responses result from disruption of proper molecular signaling, thus, early
developmental life stages are perhaps the ideal life stage to determine if nanomaterials
perturb normal biological pathways. Through automation and rapid throughput approaches, a
systematic and iterative strategy has been deployed to help elucidate the nanomaterials
properties that drive biological responses.