Professor at the Heinrich-Heine-University in Düsseldorf, Germany

Ellen Fritsche, MD, is a full University Professor at the Heinrich-Heine-University in Düsseldorf, Germany and working group leader of the group ‘Alternative method development for environmental toxicity testing’ at the IUF – Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine. In addition, she holds a Guest Professorship at the Zhejiang Chinese Medical University in Hangzhou, China. She is a medical doctor by training and habilitated in environmental toxicology. Her research focuses on 2 topics, namely (i) elucidation of molecular mechanisms causing developmental, neuro- as well as developmental neurotoxicity, and (ii) establishment, scientific validation and application of in vitro alternative methods for developmental, neuro- as well as developmental neurotoxicity.

She has more than 20 years of experience in toxicological sciences including mechanistic studies and more than 15 years of experience in the development of new approach methods in vitro. She has been coordinating several international research projects, including the EFSA-DNT project for application of a developmental neurotoxicity (DNT) in vitro battery for regulatory purposes. She participates in two H2020 projects, ENDpoiNTs and ONTOX where she serves as Work package leader and the Horizon Europe project PARC.

She is a member of the German MAK commission (Health Hazards of Chemical Compounds in the Work Area), the DNT in vitro OECD Expert Group producing a Guidance Document for the DNT in vitro battery and the scientific advisory group for this guidance document. She authored more than 90 publications in international peer-reviewed journals (h-index in Research Gate: 43), scientific opinions and book chapters. She is editor-in-chief of the journal Frontiers in Neurotoxicology. Recently, she founded the start-up company DNTOX – providing in vitro assay services for safety assessment.