Katja Shimko
PIED & WASTEWATER RESEARCHER
University of Queensland, Australia
wastewater analysis, anabolic androgenic steroids, selective androgen receptor modulators, liquid/gas chromatography, mass spectrometry
Katja Shimko completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and Biotechnology at The University of Applied Sciences Niederrhein in Germany as well as a concurrent apprenticeship at LANXESS as a Chemical Laboratory Technician in 2016. She holds a Master of Research degree in Forensic Science from King’s College London, for which she undertook a 6-month research project at The Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS) on the analysis of anabolic steroids in wastewater. Katja is currently completing her PhD at the University of Queensland in collaboration with the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority and the Australian Sports Drug Testing Laboratory, with a focus on the analysis of World Anti-Doping Agency prohibited substances in wastewater. Analytical methods will be developed to detect and quantify steroids and selective androgen receptor modulators in wastewater. The final aim will be to assess if wastewater-based epidemiology can be used to determine performance and image-enhancing drug trends and prevalence among the general population.