Dr Michael Riediker

Head

"Particles and Health" Research Group

PH: +41 (21) 3147421
Fax: +41 (21) 3147430
Email: [email protected]
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Background

Michael Riediker (Private-Docent and Doctor of natural sciences) is head of the research group "Particles and Health" at the Institute for Work and Health (Institut universitaire romand de Santé au Travail, IST) in Lausanne, Switzerland. He teaches as a Private-Docent at the University of Lausanne. He chairs NanoImpactNet, which is a European Commission funded Network on the Health and Environmental Impact of Nanomaterials comprising over 300 researchers from 30 countries mostly from Europe but also from Asia, America and Africa.

He investigated during his PhD-studies at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) the combined effects of particle-bound pollen allergens and air pollutants (2000). In parallel, he obtained a master in Occupational Health. He then spent three year of post-doctoral work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the U.S. EPA's Human Studies Division where he lead a study about the cardiovascular effects of traffic particle exposure to Highway Patrol Troopers. He then returned to Switzerland to ETH for another traffic related project before he joined in 2004 his current institute to become leader of his current research group on particles and health. In the same year he obtained his certification as Occupational Hygienist SGAH. He and his group study exposure scenarios to micro-and nano-sized particles from traffic and industrial processes, their intrinsic reactive oxidative stress potential and surface functional groups and how these particles, their characteristics and other work factors affect cardiovascular and pulmonary health.

He contributed already numerous articles to journals targeting researchers (peer-review) and occupational health experts ("grey" literature). He received in 2003 the David Bates Award by the American Thoracic Society. He is a very active promoter of research and networking in his field of expertise. He currently chairs the Commission for Occupational Safety and Health Sciences of Suissepro, the Swiss Association of Safety and Health Practitioner Organizations. He is chair of the WHO-network activity on occupational risks of nanomaterials (AA3); chapter-editor of the upcoming 5th edition of the ILO Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health (chapter nanotechnology); co-chair of the implementation committee for the GoodNanoGuide; member of the editorial board of Particle and Fibre Toxicology; member of several expert groups consulting the Swiss and French government; member of several ISO working groups (TC229), member of several conference planning committees.