TUM-IAS Hans Fischer Fellow Klaus Kästner and TUM-IAS Host Matthias Tschöp receive prestigious awards of the Endocrine Society

TUM-IAS Hans Fischer Senior Fellow Professor Klaus Kaestner receives the Roy O. Greep Award for Outstanding Research. This annual award recognizes meritorious contributions to research in endocrinology. Klaus Kästner combined innovative mouse genetics with state-of-the-art functional genomics to understand the molecular and epigenetic basis of the development and function of the endocrine pancreas and liver. He discovered how liver development is initiated, and made major contributions to our understanding of liver metabolic function and sexual dimorphism in liver cancer. He also pioneered the exploration of the epigenetic and chromatin landscape of the endocrine pancreas. Kaestner's groundbreaking discoveries of human islet cell plasticity and alterations of the beta cell epigenome have expanded our understanding of beta cell pathophysiology and opened the door to novel treatments for diabetes.

TUM-IAS Host Professor Matthias Tschöp receives the Outstanding Innovation Award. Established in 2013, this award recognizes endocrinologists who have demonstrated innovation and entrepreneurship to further endocrine research or practice in support of the field of endocrinology, patients, and society at large. He discovered major components of endocrine gut-brain communication, based on which he developed several new clinical drug candidates for diabetes and obesity together with the chemist Richard DiMarchi. Described in more than 300 publications, Tschöp’s pioneering work has enabled basic research discoveries to transition to clinical testing. Tschöp discovered that the gastric peptide ghrelin acts as a hormone that regulates—but is also controlled by—food intake, body weight, glucose, energy and lipid metabolism. He went on to identify neuroendocrine circuits through which ghrelin and other gut hormones govern systemic metabolism, food intake and body weight in health and disease. This allowed him to co-discover several novel classes of unimolecular poly-agonists that reduce body weight, correct liver steatosis and improve glucose tolerance with unprecedented efficacy. With his work, Tschöp has pioneered multiple new technological as well as conceptual approaches leading to metabolic precision medicines poised to have major impact in the treatment of metabolic disorders.

The Endocrine Society is the world’s oldest and largest organization of scientists devoted to hormone research and physicians who care for people with hormone-related conditions. The Society, which is celebrating its centennial in 2016, has more than 18,000 members, including scientists, physicians, educators, nurses and students in 122 countries. Established in 1944, the Society’s Laureate Awards recognize the highest achievements in the endocrinology field, including groundbreaking research and innovations in clinical care. The Endocrine Society will present the awards to the winners at ENDO 2017, the Society’s 99th Annual Meeting & Expo in Orlando, FL, from April 1-4, 2017.