Fully independent and autonomous in its engagement, the Scientific Committee has been tasked with the development of the scientific program for the 2024 Tire Emissions Research Conference organized by the Tire Industry Project.
The Scientific Committee brings together an international group of eminent scientists with an extensive track record of evidence generation pertaining to the analysis of tire emissions. This diverse group represents the USA, Europe and the Asia-Pacific regions and brings a range of expertise, such as biology, ecotoxicology, environmental chemistry, environmental physics, environmental engineering, environmental health, cell biology, microplastics, nanotechnology, and toxicology.
Florian Breider
Head of the Central Environmental Laboratory at EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology – Lausanne)
Florian Breider
Head of the Central Environmental Laboratory at EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology – Lausanne)Dr. Florian Breider is the head of the Central Environmental Laboratory at EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology – Lausanne) since 2018. He has studied environmental chemistry and physics at the University of Lausanne and obtained his PhD at the University of Neuchâtel in the field of isotope biogeochemistry. After his PhD he was research scientist at the Atmospheric Particles Research Laboratory of EPFL and then Research Associate at Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan. His major research interest are the fate and impact of micropollutants and micro/nanoplastics on the ecosystems and their potential consequences on human health. Since 2020, his is studying the impact of tire and road wear particles and associated chemicals on the aquatic and terrestrial environments.
Benoit Ferrari (Co-Chair)
Director of the Ecotox Centre, Switzerland
Benoit Ferrari (Co-Chair)
Director of the Ecotox Centre, SwitzerlandDr. Benoît J.D. Ferrari obtained his PhD in Ecotoxicology from the University of Lorraine (Metz, France) in 2000. After several years at the University of Geneva (Geneva, CH) and Inrae (formerly Cemagref/Irstea, Lyon, France), he joined the Ecotox Centre in October 2013 as group leader of the Soil and Sediment Ecotoxicology group at EPFL (Lausanne, CH). On 1 September 2019, he became interim director of the Ecotox Centre. In July 2021, he was appointed as the new director of the Ecotox Centre, while continuing to lead the Soil and Sediment ecotoxicology group. His main areas of interest are the ecodynamic of contaminants and their effects at different levels of biological organisation. In particular, he is involved in 1) the development of exposure- and effect-based tools to assess chemical stress, 2) the integration of such tools into laboratory- and field-based approaches to assess ecosystem quality, and 3) the transfer of such tools and approaches to end-users. See https://www.ecotoxcentre.ch/
Francois Huaux
Professor at the Louvain Centre for Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology (LTAP) at Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain, Belgium)
Francois Huaux
Professor at the Louvain Centre for Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology (LTAP) at Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain, Belgium)François Huaux is a full professor affiliated with the Louvain Centre for Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology (LTAP) at Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain, Belgium). He gained his foundational scientific background in biology and toxicology during his training at UCLouvain (Master in Biology and Toxicology) and at the University of Michigan (Department of Pathology, USA). François Huaux is a senior research associate for FNRS (Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique) and a professor of food and chemical toxicology at UCLouvain and Institut Paul Lambin.
He is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Frontiers in Toxicology (Immunotoxicology section), vice-president of the Belgian Society of Toxicology and Ecotoxicology (BelTox), and an active member of the Immunotoxicology and Chemical Allergy Specialty Section (ITCASS) at Eurotox.
His ongoing research program focuses on elucidating the effects of inhaled micro- and nanoscale particles and fibers on the immune system and human health, with a particular emphasis on particle-induced inappropriate immune responses and chronic diseases. François Huaux is actively involved in clinical and translational studies involving patients and workers to assess the influence of the exposome on health within clinical settings. His experimental investigations and fundamental approach aim to introduce innovative biomarkers of exposure, novel adverse outcome pathways (AOP), and straightforward predictive in vitro assays (alternative methods).
Brigitte Helmreich
Associate Professor and Chair of Urban Water Systems Engineering at the TU München, Germany
Brigitte Helmreich
Associate Professor and Chair of Urban Water Systems Engineering at the TU München, GermanyBrigitte Helmreich received her PhD from Technische Universität München (TUM) in Chemistry in 1992. In 2010, she was awarded her Postdoctoral lecture qualification (Habilitation) and Teaching Certificate for the field Urban Water Systems Engineering. In 2014, she has been appointed asAssociate Professor at TUM.
Her research interests and expertise are monitoring of organic and inorganic pollutants in storm water runoff, Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS), Stormwater Quality Improvement Devices (SQIDs), multifunctional stormwater management systems for urban flooding, waster sensitive urban design, water reuse, and rainwater harvesting.
Julie Panko
Principal Scientist and Senior Vice President at ToxStrategies
Julie Panko
Principal Scientist and Senior Vice President at ToxStrategiesMs. Panko is a Principal Scientist and Senior Vice President at ToxStrategies, LLC, a scientific consulting firm in the United States. Ms. Panko has more than 30 years of experience conducting and managing a wide variety of occupational, environmental, and consumer health risk assessments and is a Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH). She has focused primarily on evaluating chemical risks from industrial, commercial, and consumer products within the context of various regulatory programs and voluntary initiatives. Some of this work included product lines such as paints and coatings, adhesives, tires, arts and crafts, beauty care, and many industrial process chemicals.
Ms. Panko’s areas of expertise include quantitative exposure assessment such as retrospective analysis of occupational and community-based exposures to industrial emissions; human health risk assessment for contaminated sites; industrial hygiene program development and implementation; indoor air quality related to industrial, commercial, and residential environments; and product stewardship and sustainability. She has evaluated potential environmental health risks associated with numerous substances, including perfluorinated substances, 1,3-butadiene; solvents such as mineral spirits and acetone; BTEX, TCE, dioxins/furans, PCBs, a wide variety of metals, PAHs, and various tire materials.
Ms. Panko has evaluated sustainability and stewardship aspects of tires throughout their lifecycle from manufacturing to end of life. She has conducted original research regarding the physical and chemical characteristics of tire and road wear particles (TRWP), their occurrence in the environment, release of chemical constituents from TRWP and the potential human health and ecological impacts.
Cassandra Rauert
Senior Research Fellow at the Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS) at the University of Queensland, Australia
Cassandra Rauert
Senior Research Fellow at the Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS) at the University of Queensland, AustraliaDr Cassandra Rauert is an established environmental health scientist, with a career divided between working within government and academia. She is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS) at the University of Queensland, Australia. Her research focusses on developing new methods for monitoring human and environmental exposure to microplastics with a special focus on tyre wear and their associated chemicals. She has published the first Australian environmental data on these pollutants and works closely with local governments to understand the fate and transport of both tyre wear and the associated chemicals within an Australian context.
Elisabeth Støhle Rødland
Researcher at the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA)
Elisabeth Støhle Rødland
Researcher at the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA)Dr. Rødland is researcher at the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA). Dr. Rødland is a marine biologist (MSc) and environmental chemist (PhD), and has been working on road-related pollution topics for more than 12 years. She has a 7 year background from the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, before doing her PhD work on the analysis of tire-road wear particles using PYR-GC/MS at NIVA and the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU). Dr. Rødland’s current research focuses the occurrence and fate of tire-road wear particles and related chemicals in the environment, including method improvements for identification and quantification, and evaluating different treatment options for road and tunnel runoff.
Kristin Schirmer
Head of Department of Environmental Toxicology, Eawag - Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology
Kristin Schirmer
Head of Department of Environmental Toxicology, Eawag - Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and TechnologyProf. Kristin Schirmer is a cell biologist and environmental toxicologist, advancing cellular models to understand the impact of chemicals and other stressors on fish as important part of aquatic ecosystems. She learned her trade of fish cell culture in the laboratory of Professor Niels Bols at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, where she did her PhD. She then moved on to two postdoctoral positions, with the second one bringing her to the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Leipzig, Germany. She established an independent junior research group there, which grew into the Department of Cell Toxicology. Since 2008, she is head of the Department of Environment Toxicology at Eawag, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, where she continues her research on cellular models with a strong focus on building strategies that aid in the reduction and replacement of fish in chemical screening and environmental risk assessment and in safe-by-design chemicals and materials.
Stephan Wagner (Co-Chair)
Head of the Institute for Analytical Research at the Hochschule Fresenius University of Applied Sciences in Idstein, Germany
Stephan Wagner (Co-Chair)
Head of the Institute for Analytical Research at the Hochschule Fresenius University of Applied Sciences in Idstein, GermanyProf. Dr.-Ing Stephan Wagner is the head of the Institute for Analytical Research at the Hochschule Fresenius University of Applied Sciences in Idstein, Germany. He is an expert in the analysis and fate of anthropogenic materials such as tire and road abrasion particles, micro- and nanoplastics, nanomaterials as well as organic trace contaminants in the (urban) water cycle.
Stephan graduated from Technische Universität Dresden, Germany in waste and contaminated site management and received his PhD in mine water treatment in 2011 from Brandenburgische TechnischeUniversität Cottbus, Germany. Before joining Hochschule Fresenius in Idstein in July 2022, Stephan worked at several research institutions in Germany and Austria as Postdoc and research group leader. He has been involved in numerous national and international research projects related to microplastics in the water cycles, engineered nanomaterial and tire wear emissions. He is active in several working groups of the German Chemical Society (Working groups on microplastics, PMT substances and nanomaterials in food) as well as in standardization activities of the German Institute for Standardization (DIN) for microplastic sampling and spectroscopic analysis.
Ng How Yong
Adjunct Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National University of Singapore (NUS) and a Changjiang Scholar Professor at the Beijing Normal University at Zhuhai
Ng How Yong
Adjunct Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National University of Singapore (NUS) and a Changjiang Scholar Professor at the Beijing Normal University at ZhuhaiDr. How Yong Ng is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National University of Singapore (NUS) and a Changjiang Scholar Professor at the Beijing Normal University at Zhuhai. He was the Director of NUS Environmental Research Institute and the Director of the Sembcorp-NUS Corporate Laboratory.
Professor Ng’s core research interest is in sustainable water management, focusing on biological treatment technologies, membrane bioreactor and microbial electrochemical sensor for water reuse and resource recovery. He has contributed to more than 450 publications in refereed international journals and conference papers. He invented the I2BioS – an integrated intelligent bio-sensor that provides real-time water toxicity and quality monitoring, which is currently being commercialised through EnvironSens Pte Ltd, a NUS spinoff company. He also serves as an Advisor to WaterROAM Pte Ltd, a NUS startup and a social enterprise that provides durable and affordable water filters designed for humanitarian use.
Professor Ng is a Fellow of the Academy of Engineering Singapore, a Fellow of the International Water Association (IWA) and a Distinguished Member of the American Council of Environmental Engineers and Scientists. He serves as an Associate Editor of Water Research and an Editor of the Water Reuse. He is also the Chair of of the Management Committee of the IWA Specialist Group on Membrane Technology and the immediate past president of the Environmental Engineering Society of Singapore. He has received many outstanding awards including the 2014 IWA Pacific Project Innovation Award, 2020 Institute of Engineering Singapore Prestigious Engineering Achievement Award, 2020 National University of Singapore Engineering Leadership Award, etc.