Three young scientists of the IDM received a DZD Award 2022
Three young scientists of the IDM can count themselves among the winners of last years DZD Award. The award ceremony took place during the 26th DZD Workshop hosted in Tübingen.
Leontine Sandforth, Jennifer Maurer and Simon Dreher received the award in the category "Best Conference Contribution".
Leontine Sandforth was awarded for the presentation of her project at the EASD Congress 2022, in which she investigated the metabolic role of the plasma protein kallistatin. Using a model of high fat diet induced obese mice, she showed that kallistatin improves hepatic insulin sensitivity, possibly by a downregulation of the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway. This could potentially contribute to the improvement in insulin sensitivity observed during weight loss.
As part of her PhD project, Jennifer Maurer is investigating the question of which metabolic changes are initiated in skeletal muscle by treatment with metformin. She received the award for her conference contribution at the DDG Congress 2022, where she spoke about the question if metformin increases lactate production in skeletal muscle and whether this can contribute to lactic acidosis as a side effect. She showed that metformin-induced inhibition of pyruvate oxidation combined with altered cellular redox state, both shift the equilibrium of the LDH reaction leading to enhanced lactate production of human myotubes.
For a talk at the same congress, Simon Dreher received his award. He investigated the metabolic changes in adipose tissue and skeletal muscle caused by exercise. Here he was able to show that in the same human subjects, these two tissues are clearly influenced in their metabolism by exercise but differ completely in the nature of their response. Adipose tissue showed reduction of lipid uptake, synthesis and storage and the data suggest the restoration of a healthier circadian rhythm after regularly performed exercise.
More information to the DZD Award.