General
On Thursday November 28, the Tager seminar series will continue with a new lecture by Prof. dr. Anja Zeigerer, who is Professor of Basic Principles of Metabolic Diseases at Medical Faculty Mannheim and The European Center for Angioscience, University of Heidelberg, Germany.
Coupling membrane transport to metabolic control
The global prevalence of obesity and type-2 diabetes has reached a qualified epidemic stage. This presents a heavy burden on the society and thus it is essential to find novel mechanisms and targets that could be utilized for potential treatment strategies. In light of this demand, recent evidence has begun to support a role for intracellular membrane trafficking in metabolic homeostasis.
Membrane transport is an essential physiological process responsible for the sorting and distribution of signaling receptors, membrane transporters and hormones or other ligands between different intracellular compartments and the plasma membrane.
Dysregulation of intracellular transport is connected with many human diseases, including cancer, neurodegeneration, immune deficiencies, and recently metabolic diseases, such as type-2 diabetes and its associated complications. Thus, her talk will shed light on this new connection with recent examples, how regulators of membrane trafficking can alter cellular signaling and function with immediate impact on metabolic outcomes.
Prof. dr. Anja Zeigerer
Zeigerer’s research focuses on the newly discovered link between endosomal membrane
trafficking and metabolic homeostasis. In particular, she is interested in how components of the endo-lysosomal system influence glucose and lipid metabolism in the liver in health and disease. She also investigates how nutritional cues, such as the fasting/feeding transition and metabolic abnormalities influence the endo-lysosomal system. Using interdisciplinary approaches, she aims to bridge these two fields, so far studied in isolation, with the ultimate goal of developing new treatment strategies for metabolic disorders such as type-2 diabetes and fatty liver disease.
Zeigerer has published 40 original research and review articles, many in prestigious journals including Nature, Nature Biotechnology, Cell Metabolism, and Journal of Hepatology. She is part of the editorial board of Molecular Metabolism and peer reviewer for Nature, Science, Nature Metabolism, and other journals. She also serves as steering committee member, scientific advisor, and project coordinator at a number of academic research institutions and networks in Europe. She is the recipient of the Marie Curie Intra-European Research Award and the DZHK (German Center for Cardiovascular Research) Excellence Program “Promotion of women scientists” Award.