The Adolphe Merkle Institute's BioNanomaterials co-chair, Prof. Barbara Rothen-Rutishauser, has been awarded the International Society for Aerosols in Medicine (ISAM) 2021 Career Achievement Award.

This award is presented to a senior investigator whose body of work demonstrates a lifetime of outstanding achievement in aerosol science.

Rothen-Rutishauser is a pioneer of the development of human 3D lung models. In combination with air-liquid cell exposure systems, these models are applied to assess effects of aerosolized drugs and nanomaterials. She has published over 300 peer-reviewed papers, and is an associate editor of the journal “Particle and Fibre Toxicology”.  Her work includes successful collaborations with implementation partners, ranging from regulatory bodies and federal agencies to industry partners. She is currently a member of the Swiss Federal Commission on Air Hygiene and an extraordinary member of the Swissmedic Medicines Expert Committees, and has also served as an international expert for bodies such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the World Health Organization.

Rothen-Rutishauser has been especially active as a member of the ISAM over the years. In 2009 she received the Young Investigator Award 2009 from ISAM; she served as a board member from 2011 to 2015; and she was the conference chair of the organization’s annual conference in Montreux, Switzerland, in 2019.  Since May, Rothen-Rutishauser is the president of ISAM, a position she will hold for the next two years.