Professor Kristin Schirmer

Prof. Kristin Schirmer is a cell biologist and environmental toxicologist with profound experience in interdisciplinary aquatic research. She is head of Department of Environmental Toxicology at Eawag (Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology), Adjunct professor at the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland and the University of Waterloo, ON, Canada and lecturer at ETH Zürich.  A key research interest is the identification of mechanistic links of exposure and effects of nanomaterials on different levels of biological organization, from molecular interactions to transfer in food chains. Her research has won her several awards, including the Environmental Education Award 2007 of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry and the 2007 Felix Wankel Animal Welfare Research Award.

See Nanoecotoxicology at Eawag

Example publications:

Hildebrand H, Kühnel D. Springer A, Potthoff A, Mackenzie K, Schirmer, K. (2010). Evaluating the cytotoxicity of palladium/magnetite nano-catalysts intended for wastewater treatment. Environmental Pollution, 158(1), 65-73.

Kühnel D, Busch W, Meißner T, Springer A, Potthoff A, Richter V, Gelinsky M, Scholz S, Schirmer K. (2009). Agglomeration of tungsten carbide nanoparticles in exposure medium does not prevent uptake and toxicity toward a rainbow trout gill cell line. Aquatic Toxicology, 93, 91-99.