New scientific adviser

Prof. Peter Maier

The Board of the 3R Research Foundation is delighted to have been able to recruit Prof. Peter Maier as its new scientific adviser.

Prof. Maier embarked upon his new appointment at the beginning of 1999 and it will be his job, along with the Evaluation Committee, to help determine the scientific thrust of the 3R Research Foundation. Where necessary he will advise the people in charge of projects sponsored by the Foundation.

Background

Peter Maier was born in 1943 and gained his Ph.D. at the Faculty of Science of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich in 1974. He was subsequently engaged in post-doctoral research at the Institute of Medical Genetics at Zurich University Children's Hospital (1973-1975). This was followed by 2 years (1975-1977) as a Visiting Fellow at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA, where he researched into the characterization of environmental mutagens. In 1977, at the Institute of Toxicology recently founded by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich and the University of Zurich, he set up a research group in cellular and in vitro toxicology, which he still heads today.

In 1991 he was appointed associate professor ('Privatdozent') at the Medical Faculty of the University of Zurich and in 1998 he received a professorship. Prof. Maier is a member of the editorial board of Toxicology In Vitro. He organizes post-graduate courses in toxicology in Switzerland and is a member of many scientific associations. He has published over 180 scientific articles (research reports, contributions to books, overviews, and abstracts for conferences), including 58 refereed research reports in well-known specialized journals.

In his research Prof. Maier investigates the mechanisms behind the toxic effects of pharmaceutical products and environmental chemicals. He is one of the pioneers in the development of in vitro methods for recognizing the potential carcinogenic effects of chemicals on mammalian cells (monolayer primary cultures, cocultures and aggregate cultures). In view of his broad professional experience in both in vitro and in vivo research, Prof. Maier was an obvious choice as scientific adviser for the 3R Research Foundation.

On behalf of the Board
Dr. Hugo Wick, President