Effective June 1, 2018, Dr Michael Meyer has been appointed scientific director of FILK. He thus assumes responsibility for all research activities and scientific work at the institute.
Dr Michael Meyer studied biology at the University of Freiburg, majoring in zoology, microbiology and genetics, and graduated in 1994 with a thesis on "Toxicity and mutagenicity of textile industry effluents before and after treatment in wastewater treatment plant simulations". He completed postgraduate studies at the Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg in the field of process engineering, graduating in 1997. In 2002, Dr Michael Meyer received his doctorate from the Technical University of Dresden, Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry on the topic of "Thermal-mechanical digestion of bovine skin collagen".
From 1994 to 1998, Dr Michael Meyer worked for various companies, including as head of product development at Häcker GmbH, where he was involved in the development of new gelatin-based adhesives.
In 1998, Dr Michael Meyer started working at the FILK, where he led R&D projects on process and product development in the fields of leather and collagen, before taking over as head of the Leather/Collagen/Biopolymers Department at FILK in 2001.
Dr Michael Meyer is co-author of 5 patent applications and author of numerous technical publications and lectures. He is a member of the Verein für Gerberei-Chemie und -Technik e. V. (VGCT) and represents it in the international equivalent, the International Union of Leather Technicians and Chemists Societies (IULTCS). At the same time, he is a member of the Scientific Committee of the IULTCS. At the Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg he is in charge of the lecture "Production of Leather and Gelatine".
With the appointment of Dr Michael Meyer as Head of Research, the Institute is consistently continuing its strategic development. Under his leadership, the research competencies are to be further expanded and diversified. In the course of this, new scientific competence groups reflecting the research foci at the institute will be created in addition to the existing ones. With the new structures, the scientific work at the institute is to be bundled in a targeted manner and organized across disciplines.