Short CV
Dr. Horvath graduated from the University of Veterinary Sciences, Budapest, Hungary, in 1992, where he received a degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. He received a PhD in neurobiology from University of Szeged in 2000. Dr. Horvath was a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University School of Medicine between 1992 and 1994. Since 2005, he has been the Jean and David W. Wallace Professor of Biomedical Research endowed Chair of the Section of Comparative Medicine, which is a free standing academic department of Yale Medical School focusing on animal models of human diseases. In 2009 he founded the Yale Program in Integrative Cell Signaling and Neurobiology of Metabolism. Since 1986, the major goal of his research is to determine the signaling flow and regulatory relationship within and between neuronal circuits that underlie the maintenance of physiological and pathological homeostatic conditions with particular emphasis on metabolic disorders, such as obesity, and neurodegeneration. As recognition of his research accomplishments, he has received various honors, including The Albert Szent-Gyorgyi Prize, Honorary Diplomat, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, Szent Istvan University, Budapest, Hungary, Ideas of 2006 by the New York Times Magazine, the NIH Director's Pioneer Award (2010) and the Ernts Oppenheimer Award from The Endocrine Society (2012).
Selected Awards
- 2013, Honorary Doctorate, Szent Istvan University, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
- 2012, The Ernst Oppenheimer Award, The Endocrine Society
- 2010, Jean and David W. Wallace Professor of Biomedical Research, Yale University, School of Medicine
- 2010, The NIH Director’s Pioneer Award
- 2009, Finalist; Blavatnik Award; The New York Academy of Sciences
- 2008, Alexander von Humboldt Professorship (by the Ministry of Science of the Republic of Germany)
- 2008, BBVA Chair in Biomedicine, The Cajal Institute, Madrid, Spain
- 2007, Jerzy Olszewski Lecture, Killam Lecture Series, McGill University, Montreal, Canada (April 18)
- 2005, Key Lecture at the Annual Meeting of The Obesity Society (previously known as NAASO), Vancouver, Canada (October)
- 2002, The Albert Szent-Gyorgyi Fellowship (by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Hungary)
- 2002, Key Note Speaker at the Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts Endocrine Society, Amherst, MA (October).
Research Interests
Tamas Horvath’s laboratory has been studying the relationship between peripheral hormones and circuits of the central nervous system that, in turn, regulate complex, goal-oriented behaviors and whole body energy metabolism. They have been analyzing the regulatory principles of hypothalamic circuits and their effects on complex behaviors. From these studies, they assert that hypothalamic circuit activity during development and adulthood has critical relevance in the etiology of symptomatology associated with anorexia nervosa.
Selected Publications
- Dietrich, Marcelo O.; Liu, Zhong-Wu; Horvath, Tamas L.: Mitochondrial Dynamics Controlled by Mitofusins Regulate Agrp Neuronal Activity and Diet-Induced Obesity. Cell 155 (1), 2013, 188-199.
- Dietrich, Marcelo O; Bober, Jeremy; Ferreira, Jozélia G; Tellez, Luis A; Mineur, Yann S; Souza, Diogo O; Gao, Xiao-Bing; Picciotto, Marina R; Araújo, Ivan; Liu, Zhong-Wu; Horvath, Tamas L: AgRP neurons regulate development of dopamine neuronal plasticity and nonfood-associated behaviors. Nature Neuroscience 15 (8), 2012, 1108-1110.
- Diano, Sabrina; Liu, Zhong-Wu; Jeong, Jin Kwon; Dietrich, Marcelo O; Ruan, Hai-Bin; Kim, Esther; Suyama, Shigetomo; Kelly, Kaitlin; Gyengesi, Erika; Arbiser, Jack L; Belsham, Denise D; Sarruf, David A; Schwartz, Michael W; Bennett, Anton M; Shanabrough, Marya; Mobbs, Charles V; Yang, Xiaoyong; Gao, Xiao-Bing; Horvath, Tamas L: Peroxisome proliferation–associated control of reactive oxygen species sets melanocortin tone and feeding in diet-induced obesity. Nature Medicine 17 (9), 2011, 1121-1127.
- Andrews, Z. B.; Erion, D.; Beiler, R.; Liu, Z.-W.; Abizaid, A.; Zigman, J.; Elsworth, J. D.; Savitt, J. M.; DiMarchi, R.; Tschop, M.; Roth, R. H.; Gao, X.-B.; Horvath, T. L.: Ghrelin Promotes and Protects Nigrostriatal Dopamine Function via a UCP2-Dependent Mitochondrial Mechanism. Journal of Neuroscience 29 (45), 2009, 14057-14065.
- Andrews, Zane B.; Liu, Zhong-Wu; Walllingford, Nicholas; Erion, Derek M.; Borok, Erzsebet; Friedman, Jeffery M.; Tschöp, Matthias H.; Shanabrough, Marya; Cline, Gary; Shulman, Gerald I.; Coppola, Anna; Gao, Xiao-Bing; Horvath, Tamas L.; Diano, Sabrina: UCP2 mediates ghrelin’s action on NPY/AgRP neurons by lowering free radicals. Nature 454 (7206), 2008, 846-851.
- Gao, Qian; Mezei, Gabor; Nie, Yongzhan; Rao, Yan; Choi, Cheol Soo; Bechmann, Ingo; Leranth, Csaba; Toran-Allerand, Dominique; Priest, Catherine A; Roberts, James L; Gao, Xiao-Bing; Mobbs, Charles; Shulman, Gerald I; Diano, Sabrina; Horvath, Tamas L: Anorectic estrogen mimics leptin's effect on the rewiring of melanocortin cells and Stat3 signaling in obese animals. Nature Medicine 13 (1), 2006, 89-94.
- Abizaid, Alfonso; Liu, Zhong-Wu; Andrews, Zane B.; Shanabrough, Marya; Borok, Erzsebet; Elsworth, John D.; Roth, Robert H.; Sleeman, Mark W.; Picciotto, Marina R.; Tschöp, Matthias H.; Gao, Xiao-Bing; Horvath, Tamas L.: Ghrelin modulates the activity and synaptic input organization of midbrain dopamine neurons while promoting appetite. Journal of Clinical Investigation 116 (12), 2006, 3229-3239.
- Diano, Sabrina; Farr, Susan A; Benoit, Stephen C; McNay, Ewan C; da Silva, Ivaldo; Horvath, Balazs; Gaskin, F Spencer; Nonaka, Naoko; Jaeger, Laura B; Banks, William A; Morley, John E; Pinto, Shirly; Sherwin, Robert S; Xu, Lin; Yamada, Kelvin A; Sleeman, Mark W; Tschöp, Matthias H; Horvath, Tamas L: Ghrelin controls hippocampal spine synapse density and memory performance. Nature Neuroscience 9 (3), 2006, 381-388.
- Pinto, S.: Rapid Rewiring of Arcuate Nucleus Feeding Circuits by Leptin. Science 304 (5667), 2004, 110-115.
Publications as TUM-IAS-Fellow