Sebastian Höss, born 1968 in Kösching (Ingolstadt), studied biology and graduated at the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich. In 2001 he made his Ph.D. at the Humbold Universi-ty in Berlin supervised by Prof. Christian Steinberg and Prof. Walter Traunspurger. His thesis dealt with the development and standardization of a sediment bioassay using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.
Based on the work in the field of ecotoxicology, Sebastian Höss built up his own private company called Ecossa (Ecological Sediment and Soil Assessment). Ecossa develops and applies quality assessment tools for soils and sediments. The services include ecotoxicological (bioassay with C. elegans, DIN ISO 10872) and ecological methods (as-sessment of meiofaunal communities; NemaSPEAR[%]-Index). With Ecossa S. Höss was involved in several ecological and ecotoxicological projects, coming from the industry (e.g. Akzo Nobel, BASF, Hoffmann LaRoche, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Grace), public authori-ties (e.g. German Federal Institute of Hydrology, German Federal Environmental Agency), research institutes (e.g. GSF, Leibnitz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries), and the EU (Modelkey). For IBN S. Höss carried out already three research projects funded by the German ministry of research and education (SiTraMaisBt, SiTraMaisBt II; SeKT; NanoSan).
Since 1997 S. Höss is a member of IBN where he is part of an expert network in the field of aquatic ecology (since 2004 board member).