Dr Sibylle Ermler
Research Fellow
Brunel University
Uxbridge
UB8 3PH
United Kingdom
About Sibylle
I joined the IfE at Brunel University in 2011 as a research fellow in the group of Prof. Andreas Kortenkamp. My research interests are in the toxicology of chemical mixtures and the implications of combination effects for human health. I am particularly interested in genotoxic mixtures and the combined effects of endocrine disruptors.
I developed an interest in environmental research whilst studying for my first degree, where I worked in environmental biotechnology during project placements in Switzerland and the UK, ranging from the field of waste water treatment to a project on the development of a genotoxicity assay. After graduating as an environmental and chemical engineer (Dipl. Ing.) in Germany, I shifted my focus to human health and carried out a PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) in cancer research in the area of telomere biology, DNA damage and genomic instability at the German Cancer Research Centre, Heidelberg, Germany.
In 2007, I joined the group of Prof. Kortenkamp, at the Centre for Toxicology, School of Pharmacy, London, where I conducted research on the combined effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals. There, I investigated the effects of multi-component mixtures of anti-androgens as part of a project funded by the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA).
My current research on mixture toxicology focuses on the combined genotoxic effects of aneugenic benzimidazole pesticides and other genotoxins (funded by the FSA).
Qualifications
2006: Dr. rer. nat. (PhD) Faculty of Biosciences, Ruperto-Carola University, Heidelberg, Thesis title: “The Role of the Telomeric Repeat Binding Factor 2 (TRF2) in Normal and Tumour Cells”, conducted at the German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany
2001: Diploma in environmental and chemical engineering/biotechnology, Fachhochschule Furtwangen, Germany Dissertation title: “Development of a Genotoxicity Assay for High Throughput Screening”, conducted at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, Manchester, UK
Awarded with the “Aesculap prize for a particularly innovative diploma thesis at the University of Applied Sciences Furtwangen with an industry-relevant topic“
Career
2011-present: Research Fellow, Institute for the Environment, Brunel University
2007-2011: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Toxicology, School of Pharmacy, London
2007: Effects of multi-component mixtures of antiandrogens in vitro
2010: Mixture effects of aneugenic benzimidazoles and other genotoxins
Research
Research Interests
Research Activity
My current research focuses on the toxicology of chemical mixtures, the implications of mixture effects for human health and how that impacts on the need for cumulative risk assessment of chemical substances. At present, I am investigating the combined effects of genotoxic compounds with focus on aneugenic benzimidazole pesticides but also including agents which act via other modes of action. Previously, I was involved in a project studying the mixture effects of environmental and food contaminants that act as endocrine disruptors, in particular anti-antiandrogens and estrogens.
I am interested in the hypothesis that cumulative exposure to environmental genotoxins and endocrine disruptors contributes to the development of human diseases, especially carcinogenesis. From the research carried out during my PhD project I kept a great interest in the role of genomic instability, especially impaired telomere integrity, cell cycle control and DNA damage response in the development and progression of cancer.
Publications
Publications
Journal Papers
(2013) Ermler, S., Scholze, M. and Kortenkamp, A., Seven benzimidazole pesticides combined at sub-threshold levels induce micronuclei in vitro., Mutagenesis Download publication
(2011) Ermler, S., Scholze, M. and Kortenkamp, A., The suitability of concentration addition for predicting the effects of multi-component mixtures of up to 17 anti-androgens with varied structural features in an in vitro AR antagonist assay., Toxicol Appl Pharmacol 257 (2) : 189- 197 Download publication
(2011) Silva, E., Rajapakse, N., Scholze, M., Backhaus, T., Ermler, S. and Kortenkamp, A., Joint effects of heterogeneous estrogenic chemicals in the E-screen--exploring the applicability of concentration addition., Toxicol Sci 122 (2) : 383- 394 Download publication
(2010) Ermler, S., Scholze, M. and Kortenkamp, A., The sensitivity of the MDA-kb2 cell in vitro assay in detecting anti-androgenic chemicals--identification of sources of variability and estimation of statistical power., Toxicol In Vitro 24 (6) : 1845- 1853 Download publication
(2004) Ermler, S., Krunic, D., Knoch, TA., Moshir, S., Mai, S., Greulich-Bode, KM. and Boukamp, P., Cell cycle-dependent 3D distribution of telomeres and telomere repeat-binding factor 2 (TRF2) in HaCaT and HaCaT-myc cells, EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF CELL BIOLOGY 83 (11) : 681- 690
Conference Papers
(2009) Ermler, S., Scholze, M. and Kortenkamp, A., Mixture effects of 10 structurally diverse environmental antiandrogens, 5th Copenhagen Workshop on Endocrine Disrupters: Ubiquitous endocrine disrupters and possible human health effects
(2008) Ermler, S. and Kortenkamp, A., Identification of PFOS as an in vitro anti-androgen by using an improved reporter gene assay based on phenol red-free medium, Gordon research conference on Environmental Endocrine Disruptors
(2005) Ermler, S. and Boukamp, P., Role of the telomere repeat binding factor 2 (TRF2): more than mere telomere capping?, Annual Meeting of the Deutsche-Gesellschaft-fur-Zellbiologie, EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF CELL BIOLOGY (84) : 16- 16
