23. May 2022, Topic: Aquatic Ecotoxicology Soil Ecotoxicology Sediment Ecotoxicology Risk Assessment

New faces at the Ecotox Centre (2)

We welcome our new colleagues Sibylle Maletz und Gianna Ferrari.

Sibylle Maletz joined the bioassay team in the area of aquatic ecotoxicology in January 2022. The focus of her work is on bioassays for the detection of endocrine disruptors, i.e. substances that can influence the hormone system. She also works on extending the established bioassays to the investigation of sediment and suspended matter extracts. Sibylle studied biology at the Ruprecht Karls University in Heidelberg (Germany). She then did her doctorate at RWTH Aachen University on the use of various bioassays to detect endocrine disruptors in groundwater, surface waters and wastewater - already in cooperation with the Ecotox Centre. After her PhD, Sibylle gained experience as a reproductive biologist in assisted human reproduction. "Now I am very much looking forward to working more in the environmental field again at the Ecotox Centre," says Sibylle.

Gianna Ferrari has been working in the Risk Assessment Group since April 2022. There she supports the further development of a database for toxic effects of chemicals on environmental organisms, which will also be integrated into the European NORMAN network (Network of reference laboratories for monitoring of emerging environmental pollutants). For Gianna, this is a return to ecotoxicology and to the Ecotox Centre: she already did her internship at the Ecotox Centre in 2018 as part of her ETH degree in environmental sciences. In her internship, Gianna investigated whether environmental quality criteria for antibiotics also protect against the emergence of antibiotic resistance in the environment. Gianna wrote her subsequent Master's thesis at the Institute for Integrative Biology, where she looked at the genetic basis of antibiotic resistance.