NBI is short for the Nanomaterial-Biological Interactions Knowledgebase. The knowledgebase serves as a repository for annotated data on nanomaterial characterization (purity, size, shape, charge, composition, functionalization, agglomeration state), synthesis methods, and nanomaterial-biological interactions (beneficial, benign or deleterious) defined at multiple levels of biological organization (molecular, cellular, organismal). Computational and data mining tools are currently being developed and incorporated into the NBI to provide a logical framework to conduct species, route, dose, and scenario extrapolations and identify key data required to predict the biological interactions of nanomaterials.

Information currently being gained in the emerging field of nanotechnology is extremely diverse including a multitude of widely varying nanomaterials that are being or will be tested in a broad array of animal systems and in vitro assays. Knowledge of nanomaterial-biological interactions will likely only be arrived at upon inclusion and consideration of the entire body of data produced from global efforts in this research area. Compilation of this data will allow for the definition of nanomaterial structure-activity relationships. Such mathematical representations can be used to predict nanomaterial properties in the absence of empirical data.