BERTHET Aurélie

I have a Bachelor’s degree in biology and a Ph.D. in toxicology and public health. As part of my PhD project in human toxicology, I determined the toxicokinetics of two fungicides widely used in agriculture, and for which toxicological data were very limited in humans. This work resulted in six publications, including five for which I am first author, a book chapter, and an award for excellent dissertation by the Faculty of Biology and Medicine (University of Lausanne). As postdoctoral researcher, I led a project on pesticide dermal route absorption using an in vitro cell system and human skin, and participated as co-investigator in two other research studies on biocide dermal route absorption. To improve my expertise in pesticide exposure, I attended several working groups led by the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES) as well as a Cost action (Sacurima).
Since 2015, I collaborate with Prof. Reto Auer (a clinician-researcher expert in tobacco and smoking cessation, Unisanté and University of Bern) on the toxicological composition of new tobacco products, such as the heated tobacco products (HTPs) and electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) in several projects. We were among the first independent scientists to publish a manuscript on the toxicological composition of emission of the HTP called IQOS developed by Philipp Morris. This allowed me to attend a working group on HTP emission leads by the World health organisation (WHO) as expert since 2018. In addition, we received the 2017 Swiss Aerosol Group award for our work. We continued to work on the characterization of HTP emission and passive smoke through a 2-year study funded by the Canton de Vaud, and that I led. I currently collaborate to the ESTxENDS trial (“Efficacy, Safety and Toxicology of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems as an aid for smoking cessation: The ESTxENS multicentre randomized controlled trial”) and the follow-up at 12- and 24-month on cancer-related health outcomes led by Prof. Reto Auer (Principal Investigator; PI).
In addition, during my Master’s degree, I developed expertise on environmental exposure issues in humans. Specifically, during an internship with Parks Canada , I participated in a project to rehabilitate brownfield sites in which the risks to human health and environmental hazards were assessed from a base data and classification criteria.