MA-Foto Lucas Massier

Lucas Massier

Dr. Lucas Massier

Group Leader at "Adipose Tissue Microarchitecture and Metabolism", Helmholtz Institute for Metabolic, Obesity and Vascular Research

Visit the research website Visit Publication List

Academic Career

Dr. Lucas Massier studied at the Friedrich-Schiller University in Jena, earning a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry/Molecular Cell Biology and a master’s degree in Molecular Medicine. During his doctoral studies under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Peter Kovacs at the University Hospital Leipzig, Dr. Massier led a landmark study linking adipose tissue–resident bacteria to inflammation in obesity and type 2 diabetes, providing early evidence for a new dimension of adipose-driven pathology. 

He continued his research on adipose tissue in the lab of Mikael Rydén and Niklas Mejhert at the Karolinska Institute as a postdoctoral researcher (2020–2023) and received a fellowship from the Swedish Association for the Study of Medicine (2022–2023). With a starting grant from the Swedish Research Council (2024), he started as a junior group leader at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm before moving to Leipzig, where he established the Junior Research Group “Adipose Tissue Microarchitecture and Metabolism” at HI-MAG in September 2024. 

Dr. Lucas Massier’s research focuses on the architecture of human adipose tissue and the mechanisms driven by adipose cells. His work has generated foundational datasets, conceptual models, and analytical tools that have reshaped the study of human adipose tissue. He initiated and co-led the creation of adiposetissue.org, the most comprehensive public resource for human adipose tissue omics and clinical data. His junior group builds on these findings to deepen our understanding of white adipose tissue architecture, validate novel cell types, and define their contributions to white adipose tissue pathophysiology. 

Important Career Steps

since 2024

Leader of the Junior Research Group Adipose Tissue Microarchitecture and Metabolism

at the Helmholtz Institute for Metabolic, Obesity and Vascular Research (HI-MAG) of Helmholtz Munich at the Leipzig University and the University of Leipzig Medical Center AöR, Germany

since 2024

Junior Group Leader

at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge, Karolinska Institute, Solna, Sweden

2020 - 2023

Postdoctoral Researcher

at the Rydén-Mejhert-Lab at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge, Solna, Sweden

2016-2020

Doctoral Researcher

at the Medical Department III – Endocrinology, Nephrology, Rheumatology, University of Leipzig Medical Center, University of Leipzig

Honors and Awards

  • 2025 - EFSD and Lilly Young Investigator Award 
  • 2024 - Starting Grant from the Swedish Research Council
  • 2022-2023 - Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Swedish Association for the Study of Medicine
  • 2021 - Award for Outstanding PhD Thesis (defense), Faculty of Medicine, Leipzig University

Selected Publications

2026 Cell Metab. 2026 Feb 3;38(2):419-433.e9

Jalkanen J, Zhong J, Nono Nankam PA, Bhalla N, Elmastas M, Luo J, Weinbrenner S, Frendo-Cumbo S, Pesti B, Gourash W, Courcoulas A, Yang Loureiro Z, Dietrich A, Bäckdahl J, Thorell A, Buggert M, Kalucka J, Emont MP, Rosen ED, Blüher M, Kovacs P, Ståhl PL, Massier L, Rydén M, Mejhert N

Cytoarchitectural multi-depot profiling reveals immune-metabolic crosstalk in human colon-associated adipose tissue
2025 Cell Metab. 2025 Mar 4;37(3):566-569

Zhong J, Zareifi D, Weinbrenner S, Hansen M, Klingelhuber F, Nono Nankam PA, Frendo-Cumbo S, Bhalla N, Cordeddu L, de Castro Barbosa T, Arner P, Dahlman I, Muniandy M, Heinonen S, Pietiläinen KH, Hoffmann A, Ghosh A, John D, Tönjes A, Ståhl PL, Böttcher Y, Keller M, Kovacs P, Kerr AG, Langin D, Wolfrum C, Blüher M, Krahmer N, Massier L, Mejhert N, Rydén M

adiposetissue.org: A knowledge portal integrating clinical and experimental data from human adipose tissue
2025 Nat Metab. 2025 May;7(5):875-894

Loft A, Emont MP, Weinstock A, Divoux A, Ghosh A, Wagner A, Hertzel AV, Maniyadath B, Deplancke B, Liu B, Scheele C, Lumeng C, Ding C, Ma C, Wolfrum C, Strieder-Barboza C, Li C, Truong DD, Bernlohr DA, Stener-Victorin E, Kershaw EE, Yeger-Lotem E, Shamsi F, Hui HX, Camara H, Zhong J, Kalucka J, Ludwig JA, Semon JA, Jalkanen J, Whytock KL, Dumont KD, Sparks LM, Muir LA, Fang L, Massier L, Saraiva LR, Beyer MD, Jeschke MG, Mori MA, Boroni M, Walsh MJ, Patti ME, Lynes MD, Blüher M, Rydén M, Hamda N, Solimini NL, Mejhert N, Gao P, Gupta RK, Murphy R, Pirouzpanah S, Corvera S, Tang S, Das SK, Schmidt SF, Zhang T, Nelson TM, O'Sullivan TE, Efthymiou V, Wang W, Tong Y, Tseng YH, Mandrup S, Rosen ED

Towards a consensus atlas of human and mouse adipose tissue at single-cell resolution
2024 Nat Metab. 2024 Jul;6(7):1209-1224.

Massier L, Musat N, Stumvoll M, Tremaroli V, Chakaroun R, Kovacs P

Tissue-resident bacteria in metabolic diseases: emerging evidence and challenges
2024 Nature. 2024 Dec;636(8042):457-465

Hinte LC, Castellano-Castillo D, Ghosh A, Melrose K, Gasser E, Noé F, Massier L, Dong H, Sun W, Hoffmann A, Wolfrum C, Rydén M, Mejhert N, Blüher M, von Meyenn F

Adipose tissue retains an epigenetic memory of obesity after weight loss
2023 Nat Commun. 2023 Mar 15;14(1):1438

Massier L, Jalkanen J, Elmastas M, Zhong J, Wang T, Nono Nankam PA, Frendo-Cumbo S, Bäckdahl J, Subramanian N, Sekine T, Kerr AG, Tseng BTP, Laurencikiene J, Buggert M, Lourda M, Kublickiene K, Bhalla N, Andersson A, Valsesia A, Astrup A, Blaak EE, Ståhl PL, Viguerie N, Langin D, Wolfrum C, Blüher M, Rydén M, Mejhert N

An integrated single cell and spatial transcriptomic map of human white adipose tissue
2022 Gut. 2022 Nov;71(11):2179-2193

Krieg L, Didt K, Karkossa I, Bernhart SH, Kehr S, Subramanian N, Lindhorst A, Schaudinn A, Tabei S, Keller M, Stumvoll M, Dietrich A, von Bergen M, Stadler PF, Laurencikiene J, Krüger M, Blüher M, Gericke M, Schubert K, Kovacs P, Chakaroun R, Massier L

Multiomics reveal unique signatures of human epiploic adipose tissue related to systemic insulin resistance
2020 Gut. 2020 Oct;69(10):1796-1806

Massier L, Chakaroun R, Tabei S, Crane A, Didt KD, Fallmann J, von Bergen M, Haange SB, Heyne H, Stumvoll M, Gericke M, Dietrich A, Blüher M, Musat N, Kovacs P

Adipose tissue derived bacteria are associated with inflammation in obesity and type 2 diabetes