Professor Antje Körner, a renowned scientist and pediatrician, has joined HI-MAG as the head of Metabolic Research with a joint professorship at the University of Leipzig.
"We are delighted that Antje Körner, with her pediatric scientific and clinical profile, will establish and expand the new and important field of Childhood Obesity and Metabolic Research at HI-MAG and Helmholtz Munich," explains HI-MAG Director Matthias Blüher.
Antje Körner's research focuses on the development, mechanisms and consequences of childhood obesity in a translational approach that combines clinical studies, experimental research and genetic approaches. She and her research group address questions on the pathogenesis of obesity and its associated comorbidities in children. This aims to identify risk factors, uncover underlying mechanisms such as the interaction of genetic predispositions and environmental factors, and understand alterations in the biology and function of adipose tissue. Her work promises to reveal novel approaches to sustainable prevention and treatments for children with obesity.
"I am very happy that our integrative research approach to childhood obesity is appreciated and supported in Helmholtz Munich. The excellent perspective resulting from the interface of the university and the research center enables us to bring together clinical research, mechanistic understanding and new innovative therapeutic approaches. Thus, we can ultimately identify the children at highest risk and overcome the treatment gap for children with obesity," Antje Körner explains. Her scientific achievements include the identification of early childhood as a critical vulnerable window for the manifestation of childhood obesity, new evidence that insulin-based and age-adjusted reference values allow a much more accurate prediction of developing metabolic disorders than standard guideline proposed methods, and most recently the discovery of a new monogenic form of obesity that was previously undetectable with standard diagnostics.
Antje Körner has received numerous national and international awards, including the Research Award of the European Society of Pediatric Endocrinology (ESPE), the International Journal of Obesity Outstanding New Faculty Award, the Elliot Joslin Prize and the Ferdinand Bertram-Award of the German Diabetes Society (DDG), the Obesity Research Award of the German Society for the Study of Obesity (DAG), and the Adalbert Czerny-Award of the German Society of Pediatrics (DGKJ). Antje Körner is integrated in local and international research networks. She coordinates the Leipzig-Dresden site SaxoChiLD of the new German Center for Child and Adolescent Health Research (DZKJ). In addition, she has been a senior physician at the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Leipzig Medical Center.
