Theme Metabolism
Target audience Researchers
Language English

General

Each year, the AGEM research institute organizes a seminar series focused on metabolism: the Tager Lectures. These lectures are named after Professor Joseph Tager, who made important contributions to Fabry, Pompe and Gaucher disease and had a major impact on our understanding of peroxisomal diseases. He was chairman of the Biochemistry Department at the University of Amsterdam (1980-1991).

On Thursday November 6th, the Tager seminar series will continue with a new lecture by Prof. dr. Martin Jastroch, who is the Professor of Molecular Physiology at the Department of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner-Gren Institute, Stockholm University, Sweden.

Recent achievements include his promotion to Proffesor in 2023, the IUPS August Krogh Award 2025, the Acta Honorary Issue Award by the Scandinavian Physiological Society, and the ERC Advanced Grant 2024. His expertise is centred on energy metabolism from the organism to the molecule, with internationally respected expertise in mitochondrial bioenergetics and brown adipose tissue biology. Prof. Jastroch is currently the lead of the Jastroch lab.

Recent breakthroughs include molecular understanding of UCP1-independent adipose tissue thermogenesis and the evolution of brown fat in mammals.

Uncovering thermogenic pathways in adipose tissue by evolutionary reconstruction

Dissipating surplus energy via thermogenesis in adipose tissue is an attractive route to reduce obesity and its comorbidities. Increased metabolic turnover in adipose tissue is accompanied by a shift in molecular network that is generally termed the “browning” of adipose tissue, as it includes metabolic pathways known from the mammalian heater organ brown adipose tissue (1). To unravel specific pathways that could be instrumental in therapeutically targeting human adipose tissue (2), we use unique animal models to receive evolutionary clues how nature selects for non-shivering thermogenesis and how thermogenesis was wired into adipose tissue. The goal is to specifically enhance these pathways to assess translational value in human adipocytes.

References

[1]. Jastroch M, Seebacher F (2020). Importance of adipocyte browning in the evolution of endothermy. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 375(1793):20190134. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0134.

[2]. Gaudry MJ, Keuper M, Jastroch M (2019). Molecular evolution of thermogenic uncoupling protein 1 and implications for medical intervention of human disease. Mol Aspects Med. 68:6-17. doi: 10.1016/j.mam.2019.06.006.

Date and Location

Time From 12:00 to 13:30
Start date Thursday, November 6, 2025
Location Fonteynzaal, location AMC, Amsterdam UMC
Lunch is included!

Costs and registration

Free of charge and registration not needed.

Contact