biology

Kristin Schirmer

Kristin Schirmer is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Kristin Schirmer rather than just read about it. In short: Kristin Schirmer (born 1967) is a German cell biologist and toxicologist. She is the Head of Department of Environmental Toxicology at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag)] and also a professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and ETH Zurich.

Key takeaways

Kristin Schirmer belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Kristin Schirmer to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Kristin Schirmer from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Kristin Schirmer (born 1967) is a German cell biologist and toxicologist. She is the Head of Department of Environmental Toxicology at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag)] and also a professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and ETH Zurich. Schirmer specializes in Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms of Toxicity, Aquatic Organisms, Chemical Hazard Assessment, Adverse Outcome Pathways, in vitro Alternatives to Animal Testing, Fish Cell Lines and Biomonitoring.

Early life and education From 1989 to 1994 Schirmer earned her biology diploma at the University of Hohenheim and the Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg. After that she continued as a Ph.D. student at the Department of Biology of the University of Waterloo in Canada, where she worked on her doctoral thesis on the development of in vitro toxicity assays with rainbow trout cells. From 1997 to 2001 Schirmer completed her Postdoctoral Training at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research and University of Waterloo. From 2001 to 2003 she was the Junior Research Group Leader at UFZ in Leipzig.

Career and research In 2008 Kristin Schirmer was appointed as the new head of the Environmental Toxicology department at Eawag. Before that she had already taught Ecotoxicology as a professor at the ETH Zurich. In 2011 Schirmer began teaching at the EPFL and was awarded the title of adjunct professor. In 2019 the Swiss 3R Competence Centre, a nonprofit association located in Bern, which promotes research for the replacement and reduction of animal experimentation, awarded Kristin Schirmer and her colleague Melanie Fisher for their exceeding research work. They received ISO certification for a toxicity test utilizing cultured fish gill cells instead of fish, which proves to be a milestone in the promotion of alternate procedures to animal testing . With other researchers from Eawag Schirmer took part in developing a business idea named "Rainbow Biosystem", creating a fish-cell-based biosensor that provides a solution for managing and monitoring the quality of water. For this they received the 3rd prize in the business plan category by Venture, a Swiss start-up competition. In December 2020 ETH Zurich appointed her as titular professor. Currently the main focus of her research is on the freshwater environment and on fish or single-cell organisms as experimental models, as well as on human-made products and chemicals, naturally occurring elements, biologically derived toxins as stressors.

Awards and honors Awards won include:

2019 Recipient of the 3RCC Award of the Swiss3R Competence Centre (together with her colleague Melanie Fischer) 2017 Venture competition – New business idea: the Rainbow Biosystem; 3rd prize 2007 SETAC Environmental Education Award 2007 Felix-Wankel Animal Welfare Research Award 2007 Technology Transfer Award for Ceramic Toximeter passives sampler (Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ) 1998 W.B. Pearson Medal for recognition of creative research in a Doctoral thesis 1997 Best Student Platform Presentation Award, 24th Aquatic Toxicity Workshop 1994 - 1996 University of Waterloo and Ontario International Graduate Student Scholarship

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Kristin Schirmer

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Kristin Schirmer claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Kristin Schirmer before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Kristin Schirmer ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Kristin Schirmer

In research: Kristin Schirmer appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Kristin Schirmer in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Kristin Schirmer is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1967 births, Academic staff of ETH Zurich, Academic staff of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Kristin Schirmer outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Kristin Schirmer in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Kristin Schirmer means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Kristin Schirmer out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kristin Schirmer in simple terms?

Why does Kristin Schirmer matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Kristin Schirmer?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Kristin Schirmer.