Lisa Baumann
Based in: Heidelberg, Germany
Member of ERGO partner: University of Heidelberg (UHEI)
Research areas: Lisa has over 10 years’ experience in endocrine disruption research in fish. She has specialised in aquatic toxicology with focus on endocrine effects and immunotoxicity in fish, mainly zebrafish (Danio rerio). She has special expertise in fish (histo)pathology and developmental toxicity.
Academic background: In her PhD and Diploma in Biology at UHEI, Lisa started working on endocrine disruption in zebrafish in the context of OECD guidelines. For her postdoctoral research, she developed projects on thyroid disruption in developing zebrafish with focus on consequences on morphology, physiology and behaviour at University of Bern, Switzerland.
Current research and role within ERGO: Lisa is an internationally recognised expert on endocrine disruption in fish. She is currently employed as a research group leader and zebrafish facility manager in the Aquatic Ecology and Toxicology Group of Prof. Dr Thomas Braunbeck at the Centre for Organismal Studies at UHEI. Lisa is the leading UHEI scientist for the experimental work in ERGO’s Work Package (WP) 5. As co-principal investigator for UHEI, she is responsible for the performance and supervision of laboratory work, data analyses and reporting to other WPs. Her major tasks are the organisation of the experimental work, coordination with other ERGO collaborators involved in the in vivo experimental work and the supervision of UHEI BSc, MSc and PhD candidates involved in ERGO.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jiří Novák
Based in: Brno, Czech Republic
Member of ERGO partner: Masarykova Univerzita (MU)
Research areas: Jiří has broad experience in the fields of ecotoxicology of pollutants and their complex mixtures, specific mechanisms of toxicity, in vitro testing and environmental endocrine disruptors. His research focuses on the development and application of tools for the assessment of endocrine disrupting properties of environmental pollutants and complex mixtures associated with various environmental matrices such as ambient and indoor air, dust, water and sediment.
Academic background: During his PhD and postdoctoral research, Jiří focused mainly on the endocrine disruption potential of model pollutants and environmental mixtures of chemicals studied by a set of mammalian cell-based in vitro bioassays and modeling of the toxic potential of the mixtures based on data from chemical analyses.
Current research role and work within ERGO: Jiří is a junior researcher in the Ecotoxicology research program at the Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment (RECETOX). Within ERGO, Jiří contributes to WP4, he is responsible for the establishment and optimisation of in vitro bioassay set at RECETOX within WP5 and their validation in WP7 as well as performing bioanalysis of model compounds using this set.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rikke Poulsen
Based in: Risø, Denmark
Member of ERGO partner: Aarhus University (AU)
Research areas: Rikke is specialised in aquatic toxicology and endocrine disrupting compounds with a particular interest in applying untargeted omics approaches. Working interdisciplinary with molecular biology and analytical chemistry, she has experience with in vivo and in vitro toxicity assays, as well as different omics tools including metabolomics and transcriptomics. With a special focus on applying liquid-, gas- and ion exchange chromatography coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) for targeted and non-targeted analysis of environmental chemicals and their effects, she seeks to obtain a toxicological and biochemical understanding of organismal biology and how they are affected by man-made chemicals.
Academic background: PhD in Environmental Chemistry and Toxicology.
Current research role and work within ERGO: Rikke joined the Environmental Endocrine Disruptors Laboratory at Aarhus University as a visiting PhD student in 2018 and has, since November 2019, been employed as a postdoctoral researcher in ERGO. Using HRMS, Rikke has expanded on previous work in the laboratory by developing a sensitive quantification method of thyroid hormones using LC-MS2 that quantifies not only the main thyroid hormones thyroxine and triiodothyronine but also 10 other thyroid hormone metabolites. Using this method, she performs targeted analyses of thyroid hormones as well as untargeted metabolomics analyses in WP4, WP5, WP6 and WP7.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Han Sun
Based in: Leipzig, Germany
Member of ERGO partner: Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung (UFZ)
Research areas: Han specialises in employing in-vitro assays to study the toxicity of xenobiotics and to determine the biotransformation profiles of thyroid disrupting chemicals (TDCs), in terms of their metabolic kinetics and pathways. He uses analytical chemistry platforms applying liquid and gas chromatography coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry, in combination with environmental chemistry and ecotoxicological trials, to unravel the toxicological effects and metabolic characters of xenobiotics that pose threats to human health.
Academic background: Han carried out his BSc in Environmental Science at the Ocean University of China and completed his MSc in Environmental Toxicology at University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany. He is currently undertaking his PhD in Applied Science at TU Freiberg and UFZ.
Current research role and work within ERGO: Han mainly participates in WP4 and is carrying out in-vitro enzyme assays using liver S9 fractions derived from animal hepatocytes to study the metabolic patterns of the TDCs. The determined Michaelis-Menten kinetic parameters and identified metabolic products contribute to the physiologically based toxicokinetic (PBTK) modelling to inform the bioavailability and biotransformation in rat and fish models.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lucia Vergauwen
Name: Lucia Vergauwen
Based in: Antwerp, Belgium
Member of ERGO partner: University of Antwerp (UA)
Research areas: Lucia’s research focuses on understanding the mechanisms underlying toxicity with a focus on endocrine disruption. She uses Adverse Outcome Pathways (AOP) to support the development of testing strategies for endocrine disruption with emphasis on the use of alternatives to animal testing including in vitro and zebrafish embryo assays. In her research, she pays particular attention to comparing responses across species to support bridging the gap between human and environmental health. She also teaches Animal Physiology and Biochemistry in the University.
Academic background: Lucia has a Masters in Biomedical Sciences and obtained her PhD in Biology in the area of ecotoxicology in 2012. As a postdoc she helped set up the Zebrafishlab at UA where she is the project coordinator.
Current research role and work within ERGO: As co-principal investigator for UA, Lucia has been coordinating the development of AOPs with the partners and has been working on the development of the AOP network and its application for selection of assays and endpoints with relevance across vertebrates in ERGO’s WP3. She has also been contributing to the experimental work involving fish embryo tests in WP5 and has been supporting the validation of thyroid-sensitive endpoints for addition to existing OECD fish Test Guidelines in WP7.