Eryn Slankster-Schmierer, PhD

Eryn Slankster-Schmierer, PhD is a regulatory testing specialist at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine where she promotes more effective, human relevant toxicological assessment by replacing existing animal use with non-animal methods.

To achieve this, Dr. Slankster-Schmierer coordinates the Physicians Committee’s NAM Use for Regulatory Application (NURA) program. NURA provides scientists and regulators from industry, government, and academia with free training on new approach methodologies (NAMs) to help facilitate the shift away from current animal-based approaches. 

Dr. Slankster-Schmierer also coordinates the Physicians Committee's efforts as the secretariat of the International Council on Animal Protection in OECD Programmes (ICAPO), a nongovernmental coalition of international organizations with invited expert status at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). OECD chemical testing guidelines and recommendations seek harmonization of testing requirements among the 38 OECD member countries. As an ICAPO representative, Dr. Slankster-Schmierer works with OECD and other regulatory organizations to replace current animal-based chemical testing requirements with more effective in vitro and in silico models.

Prior to PCRM, Dr. Slankster-Schmierer attended Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. She obtained her Bachelor and Master of Science in Biology with a focus on genetics where she developed genetic markers in a plant, Brassica rapa, to demonstrate genetic linkage and paternity testing in teaching laboratories. She continued her education at Oakland University where her doctoral research focused on modelling the immune response resulting from atherosclerosis and limb ischemia, and the development of an anti-inflammatory, autologous, multicellular therapy to prevent the disease progression. She then performed post-doctoral training at the University of Nevada, Reno, where her work delved into the neurological mechanism of how internal state (gut microbiota, diet) modulates the olfactory response through GABA and insulin signaling, with a focus on behavior tracking and gene expression analysis.