Dr Sibylle Ermler
Lecturer in Biosciences (Endocrinology and Metabolism)

Research area(s)

Human toxicology; Metabolism disruption; Endocrine disruption; Developmental origins of health and disease; Mixture toxicology and risk assessment; Human relevant in vitro models; Novel foods; Space travel.

Research Interests

My current research focuses on the effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals on adipogenesis. My aim is to elucidate how environmental exposures can lead to metabolic disorders such as obesity and which role different fat compartments, such as white and brown adipose tissues may play. A focus is on exposures in early life. In addition, my research interests are in the toxicology of chemical mixtures, the implications of mixture effects for human health and how mixture toxicology impacts on the need for cumulative risk assessment of chemical substances. In the past, I have also investigated the combined effects of genotoxic compounds with focus on aneugenic benzimidazole pesticides but also including agents which act via other modes of action. Furthermore, I studied 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 endocrine disruptors and other compounds contributes to the development of human diseases, such as obesity and cancer.

Grants