Group leader / deputy head of Division "Metabolic Neuroimaging"
Prof. Stephanie Kullmann
“Metabolism and cognition are highly linked. Putting brain health at the center of treating and preventing diabetes has the potential to avert cognitive and metabolic impairments. This could improve the life of millions.”
Academic Career and Research Areas
Stephanie Kullmann studied "Neuro- and Behavioral Sciences" at the International Max Planck Research School at the University of Tübingen. She successfully completed the program in 2009 with her master's thesis "Neural correlates of prospective memory".
She then conducted research as a doctoral student at the Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology at the University of Tübingen. In 2013, she received her doctorate in neuroscience there. Her dissertation on "The 'weighty' brain: the impact of body weight on the functional brain network" was awarded the distinction summa cum laude.
In 2014, she was appointed deputy head of the "Metabolic Neuroimaging" department at the IDM/Helmholtz Zentrum München at the University of Tübingen, where she has headed a research group since 2019. From 2016 to 2018, Stephanie Kullmann participated in the postdoctoral fellowship program (PFP) of Helmholtz Zentrum München.
In 2019, she completed her habilitation at the Medical Faculty of the University of Tübingen with the thesis "The Hypothalamic-Prefrontal Network in Prediabetes". Since 2020, Stephanie Kullmann has been a member of the study committees of the Graduate Training Centre of Neuroscience of the International Max Planck Research School at the University of Tübingen.
Kullmann’s scientific focus is in particular the role of central nervous processes in the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus.
In recent years, she and her research group have shown that the effect of insulin in the human brain plays an important role in peripheral metabolism and eating behavior.
Her current research projects deal in particular with the question of whether and how the insulin sensitivity of the brain can be improved. Initial study results show that insulin resistance in the brain can be treated with positive effects on the metabolism of the entire body.
Fields of Work and Expertise
Neuroscience Diabetology functional magnetic resonance imaging
brain stimulation insulin action translational research
Professional Background
Habilitation (venia legendi), University of Tübingen, Germany
Deputy Head of Metabolic Neuroimaging at IDM - Institute for the Study of Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases of the Helmholtz Zentrum München at the University of Tübingen
Honors and Awards
- Ferdinand-Bertram-Preis of the Deutschen Diabetes Gesellschaft 2022
- DZD NEXT Young Talent Program 2020
- Ernst-and-Berta-Scharrer Award 2017 (German Society of Endocrinology) 2018
Many who need them don't get them. Many who don't need them take them. How does the so-called "weight loss injection" work? And does it really help against obesity?
Stephanie Kullmann shows the role the brain plays in overweight and obesity in the ARD broadcast "Hirschhausen und die Abnehmspritze", in which Eckart von Hirschhausen undergoes an MRI as part of a self-experiment.
Publications
Zhao, S. ; Semeia, L. ; Veit, R. ; Moser, J. ; Preissl, H. ; Kullmann, S.
Structural and functional brain changes in children and adolescents with obesity.Kullmann, S. ; Singh, A. ; Sehgal, R. ; Eichelmann, F. ; Sandforth, L. ; Wilms, B. ; Jähnert, M. ; Peter, A. ; Meyhöfer, S. ; Walther, D. ; Preissl, H. ; Häring, H.-U. ; Schulze, M.B. ; Heni, M. ; Birkenfeld, A.L. ; Schürmann, A. ; Ouni, M.
Circulating epigenetic signatures classifying brain insulin resistance in humans.Chen, W. ; Kullmann, S. ; Rhea, E.M.
Expanding the understanding of insulin resistance in brain and periphery.Ester-Nacke, T. ; Veit, R. ; Thomanek, J. ; Book, M. ; Tamble, L. ; Beermann, M. ; Löffler, D. ; Salvador, R. ; Ruffini, G. ; Heni, M. ; Birkenfeld, A.L. ; Plewnia, C. ; Preissl, H. ; Kullmann, S.
Repeated net-tDCS of the hypothalamus appetite-control network enhances inhibitory control and decreases sweet food intake in persons with overweight or obesity.Chakravartti, S.P. ; Jann, K. ; Veit, R. ; Liu, H. ; Yunker, A.G. ; Angelo, B. ; Monterosso, J.R. ; Xiang, A.H. ; Kullmann, S. ; Page, K.A.
Non-caloric sweetener effects on brain appetite regulation in individuals across varying body weights.Kullmann, S. ; Wagner, L. ; Hauffe, R. ; Kühnel, A. ; Sandforth, L. ; Veit, R. ; Dannecker, C. ; Machann, J. ; Fritsche, A. ; Stefan, N. ; Preissl, H. ; Kroemer, N.B. ; Heni, M. ; Kleinridders, A. ; Birkenfeld, A.L.
A short-term, high-caloric diet has prolonged effects on brain insulin action in men.Sandforth, L. ; Kullmann, S. ; Sandforth, A. ; Fritsche, A. ; Jumpertz von Schwartzenberg, R. ; Stefan, N. ; Birkenfeld, A.L.
Prediabetes remission to reduce the global burden of type 2 diabetes.Semeia, L. ; Veit, R. ; Zhao, S. ; Luo, S. ; Angelo, B. ; Birkenfeld, A.L. ; Preissl, H. ; Xiang, A.H. ; Kullmann, S. ; Page, K.A.
Influence of insulin sensitivity on food cue evoked functional brain connectivity in children.Zhao, S. ; Veit, R. ; Semeia, L. ; Hummel, J. ; Sandforth, L. ; Fritsche, A. ; Birkenfeld, A.L. ; Heni, M. ; Preissl, H. ; Kullmann, S.
Sex differences in insulin induced hippocampus functional connectivity during visual food cue presentation.Wagner, R. ; Buettner, J. ; Heni, M. ; Fritsche, L. ; Kullmann, S. ; Wagmüller, M. ; Peter, A. ; Preissl, H. ; Machann, J. ; Jumpertz von Schwartzenberg, R. ; Birkenfeld, A.L. ; Pape, U.F. ; van Hall, G. ; Plomgaard, P. ; Häring, H.-U. ; Fritsche, A. ; Thompson, K.N. ; Klein, R. ; Stefan, N.
Carrageenan and insulin resistance in humans: A randomised double-blind cross-over trial.
