Staff

Melanie Fischer

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Melanie Fischer

Lab Technician

Department Environmental Toxicology

About Me

My main focus is on the development of alternative methods to reduce the need for animals in (eco)toxicity testing. In particular I work with fish cell lines and zebrafish embryos to predict acute fish lethality and on improving the existing test systems for better prediction capacity.

Activities/ Responsibilities within the department

Toxicity studies of chemicals and environmental samples 
Cell culture labs responsibility 
Contact person for zebrafish facility  
Apprenticeship training
Quality assurance (SOPs)

Projects

We develop experimental and computational tools to aid in the replacement and reduction of animal testing for environmental risk assessment, specifically for assessments using fish

Alternatives to animals testing

Fish are the most frequently used vertebrates in regulatory ecotoxicology. Numerous OECD guidelines depend on the use of fish, including OECD 203...

Curriculum Vitae

2009 - present

Eawag - Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology

Since I work at Eawag as lab technician I am and was involved in several projects focusing on alternatives to animal testing:

2017 - 2021 Development of an OECD guideline for the RTgill-W1 cell line assay (responsible for drafting and editing the drafts of the guideline and the validation report as part of the international review process). Publication of the guideline in June 2021: „Test Guideline No. 249: Fish Cell Line Acute Toxicity: The RTgill-W1 cell line assay”.
2016 - present Cofounder and partner of the start-up aQuaTox-Solutions GmbH, an Eawag spin-off. aQuaTox-Solutions offers animal free, alternative ecotoxicological test methods using fish cell lines and fish embryos for the assessment of water samples and chemicals. https://aquatox-solutions.ch/en/home/
2014 - 2019 Development of an ISO guideline for the RTgill-W1 cell line assay. Publication of the guideline in April 2019: „ISO 21115 Water quality — Determination of acute toxicity of water samples and chemicals to a fish gill cell line (RTgill-W1)”.
2013 - 2017 Leading and coordinating a round robin study to assess the repeatability and reproducibility of the RTgill-W1 cell line assay for the prediction of fish acute toxicity.
2013 – 2014 Establishment of a passive dosing system for the zebrafish embryo test and the RTgill-W1 cell line assay.
2012 Literature research on non-relevant metabolites of pesticides in drinking water. Commissioned by Kurt Seiler, head of the inter-cantonal laboratory Schaffhausen.
2010 - 2013 Project „NC3R’s“ in collaboration with University of Liverpool - Development of a mechanistically informative genome-wide, in vitro chemical screening technology
2009 - 2010 Project "CEllSens" - Developing a strategy to predict acute fish lethality using fish cell lines and fish embryos to replace the fish acute toxicity test (OECD 203) by improving assay conditions and exploring various toxicological endpoints in fish cells and zebrafish embryos - Especially chemical screening with fish gill cells from rainbow trout.
2008 - 2009

Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Leipzig, Germany

Project "CEllSens" - Developing a strategy to predict acute fish lethality using fish cell lines and fish embryos to replace the fish acute toxicity test (OECD 203) by improving assay conditions and exploring various toxicological endpoints in fish cells and zebrafish embryos - Especially chemical screening and optimization of exposure conditions using the zebrafish embryo toxicity test


2003 - 2008

University of Applied Sciences (FH) Mittweida, Germany

Course of Studies: Environmental Technology, special field: Biotechnology

Degree Diploma Engineer (FH)

Publications

Schirmer, K.; Fischer, M.; Eszter, S.; Andersen, S.; Kunz, P.; Lillicrap, A. (2021) Validation report for the test guideline 249 on fish cell line acute toxicity - the RTgill-W1 cell line assay, 60 p, doi:10.1787/c66d5190-en, Institutional Repository
Fischer, M.; Belanger, S. E.; Berckmans, P.; Bernhard, M. J.; Bláha, L.; Coman Schmid, D. E.; Dyer, S. D.; Haupt, T.; Hermens, J. L. M.; Hultman, M. T.; Laue, H.; Lillicrap, A.; Mlnaříková, M.; Natsch, A.; Novák, J.; Sinnige, T. L.; Tollefsen, K. E.; von Niederhäusern, V.; Witters, H.; Županič, A.; Schirmer, K. (2019) Repeatability and reproducibility of the RTgill-W1 cell line assay for predicting fish acute toxicity, Toxicological Sciences, 169(2), 353-364, doi:10.1093/toxsci/kfz057, Institutional Repository
Stadnicka-Michalak, J.; Knöbel, M.; Županič, A.; Schirmer, K. (2018) A validated algorithm for selecting non-toxic chemical concentrations, ALTEX: Alternatives to Animal Experimentation, 35(1), 37-50, doi:10.14573/altex.1701231, Institutional Repository
Stadnicka-Michalak, J.; Weiss, F. T.; Fischer, M.; Tanneberger, K.; Schirmer, K. (2018) Biotransformation of benzo [a] pyrene by three rainbow trout (Onchorhynchus mykiss) cell lines and extrapolation to derive a fish bioconcentration factor, Environmental Science and Technology, 52(5), 3091-3100, doi:10.1021/acs.est.7b04548, Institutional Repository
Fischer, S.; Fischer, M.; Schirmer, K.; Werner, I. (2017) Wirkungsorientierte Gewässerüberwachung: Biomonitoring mit Forellen. Studie im Auftrag des Bundesamtes für Umwelt (BAFU). Abschlussbericht 2017, Institutional Repository
Heinlaan, M.; Muna, M.; Knöbel, M.; Kistler, D.; Odzak, N.; Kühnel, D.; Müller, J.; Gupta, G. S.; Kumar, A.; Shanker, R.; Sigg, L. (2016) Natural water as the test medium for Ag and CuO nanoparticle hazard evaluation: an interlaboratory case study, Environmental Pollution, 216, 689-699, doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2016.06.033, Institutional Repository
Strecker, R.; Busquet, F.; Rawlings, J. M.; Belanger, S. E.; Braunbeck, T.; Carr, G. J.; Cenijn, P.; Fochtman, P.; Gourmelon, A.; Hübler, N.; Kleensang, A.; Knöbel, M.; Kussatz, C.; Legler, J.; Lillicrap, A.; Martínez-Jerónimo, F.; Polleichtner, C.; Rzodeczko, H.; Salinas, E.; Schneider, K. E.; Scholz, S.; van den Brandhof, E.-J.; van der Ven, L. T. M.; Walter-Rohde, S.; Weigt, S.; Witters, H.; Halder, M. (2014) OECD validation study to assess intra- and inter-laboratory reproducibility of the zebrafish embryo toxicity test for acute aquatic toxicity testing, Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology, 69(3), 496-511, doi:10.1016/j.yrtph.2014.05.018, Institutional Repository
Schirmer, K.; Knoebel, M.; Tanneberger, K. (2013) Gill cells – an alternative to whole fish for toxicity tests, Eawag News [engl. ed.], 1-7, Institutional Repository
Tanneberger, K.; Knöbel, M.; Busser, F. J. M.; Sinnige, T. L.; Hermens, J. L. M.; Schirmer, K. (2013) Predicting fish acute toxicity using a fish gill cell line-based toxicity assay, Environmental Science and Technology, 47(2), 1110-1119, doi:10.1021/es303505z, Institutional Repository
Knöbel, M.; Busser, F. J. M.; Rico-Rico, Á.; Kramer, N. I.; Hermens, J. L. M.; Hafner, C.; Tanneberger, K.; Schirmer, K.; Scholz, S. (2012) Predicting adult fish acute lethality with the zebrafish embryo: relevance of test duration, endpoints, compound properties, and exposure concentration analysis, Environmental Science and Technology, 46(17), 9690-9700, doi:10.1021/es301729q, Institutional Repository

Address

E-Mail: melanie.fischer@eawag.ch
Phone: +41 58 765 5233
Fax: +41 58 765 5802
Address: Eawag
Überlandstrasse 133
8600 Dübendorf
Office: BU E12

Co-founder of aQuaTox-Solutions

http://aquatox-solutions.ch/en/home/