Neuherberg, 07.09.2017

DZD Scientist Matthias Tschöp to Receive Carus Medal

For the first time, the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina will award the Carus Medal to a diabetes researcher. This year’s award will go to Professor Matthias Tschöp for his outstanding research on diabetes and metabolism. Tschöp is the director of the Helmholtz Diabetes Center and heads the research area “New Therapeutic Concepts”  in the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD). He will receive the award on September 22, 2017 in Halle (Saale).

The Leopoldina is honoring Professor Matthias Tschöp with the Carus Medal for his revolutionary discoveries on signaling pathways of gut-brain communication.  He discovered the role of the gastric factor ghrelin as a "hunger hormone" and investigated other important mechanisms that show which signaling pathways regulate food intake, energy and glucose metabolism as well as body weight and fat mass. Specifically, Matthias Tschöp's discoveries on the molecular communication between the gastrointestinal system and the brain enabled him to develop a whole series of novel drug candidates that combine the functions of several hormones in one molecule. In preclinical models, these were able to completely eliminate obesity, hypercholesterolemia and insulin intolerance. Numerous clinical studies with these active substances are underway, and preliminary data promise significant progress in the treatment of diabetes and obesity.

Since 1896, the Leopoldina has honored important scientific discoveries or research achievements of younger scientists in a field represented in the Leopoldina. This year the DZD scientist Professor Matthias Tschöp (born 1967), scientific director of the Helmholtz Diabetes Center and Helmholtz Pioneer Campus at the Helmholtz Zentrum München and adjunct professor at Yale University, is one of the two award winners. Tschöp heads the research area "New Therapeutic Concepts" at the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD) where new drugs for the prevention and treatment of diabetes are developed.

Tschöp is one of an illustrious number of Carus Medal winners: among others, Nobel laureate Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard (1989), Stefan Hell (2013), who was also awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry one year after receiving the Carus Medal, or Emmanuelle Charpentier, who received the medal in 2015 for the breakthrough discovery of the CRISPR / Cas method of gene editing.
   

Contact:
Dr. Brigitte Fröhlich
German Center for Diabetes Research
Ingolstädter Landstr. 1
85764 Neuherberg
Germany
Phone: +49 (0)89-3187-4716
E mail: froehlich(at)dzd-ev.de

The German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD) is one of six German Centers for Health Research. It brings together experts in the field of diabetes research and integrates basic research, epidemiology, and clinical applications. By adopting an innovative, integrative approach to research, the DZD aims to make a substantial contribution to the successful personalized prevention diagnosis and treatment of diabetes mellitus. The members of the DZD are Helmholtz Zentrum München – German Research Center for Environmental Health, the German Diabetes Center (DDZ) in Düsseldorf, the German Institute of Human Nutrition (DIfE) in Potsdam-Rehbrücke, the Institute of Diabetes Research and Metabolic Diseases of Helmholtz Zentrum München at the University of Tübingen, the Paul Langerhans Institute Dresden of Helmholtz Zentrum München at the Carl Gustav Carus University Hospital of TU Dresden, associated partners at the universities in Heidelberg, Cologne, Leipzig, Lübeck and Munich, and other project partners. www.dzd-ev.de/en  

Helmholtz Zentrum München, the German Research Center for Environmental Health, pursues the goal of developing personalized medical approaches for the prevention and therapy of major common diseases such as diabetes and lung diseases. To achieve this, it investigates the interaction of genetics, environmental factors and lifestyle. The Helmholtz Zentrum München is headquartered in Neuherberg in the north of Munich and has about 2,300 staff members. It is a member of the Helmholtz Association, a community of 18 scientific-technical and medical-biological research centers with a total of about 37,000 staff members. www.helmholtz-muenchen.de/en

Press contact

Birgit Niesing


+49 (0)89 3187-3971

Source: HMGU