The award was presented on 23 September 2026 during the Gill Symposium and Awards at Indiana University in Bloomington, USA. This year’s symposium, entitled “Incretin Biology at the Center of Obesity and Related Disease Management”, brings together internationally leading researchers whose work has made decisive contributions to understanding the biological and pharmacological foundations of modern incretin-based therapies.
Alongside Müller, Lora K. Heisler from the University of Aberdeen, Randy J. Seeley from the University of Michigan, and Brian Finan from Eli Lilly and Company were honored with the 2026 Gill Transformative Investigator Award.
New Therapeutic Approaches for Obesity and Diabetes
Müller’s research has made an important contribution to improving our understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying obesity and diabetes. His work has provided key insights into GIP receptor biology in the central nervous system and contributed to the development of a new generation of incretin-based polyagonists.
These compounds activate several receptors simultaneously and can therefore influence different metabolic processes, including the regulation of blood glucose, appetite and body weight. The concept of polyagonists was originally developed by Matthias Tschöp and Richard DiMarchi and was subsequently further advanced, among others, by Müller and his team at Helmholtz Munich from a biological and mechanistic perspective.
More recent work by Müller and his team takes this concept one step further. They are investigating how incretin-based molecules can not only combine several metabolic signals, but also selectively deliver additional therapeutic components to specific cells. The aim is to develop new and even more precise approaches for the treatment of obesity and type 2 diabetes.
At the Gill Symposium, Müller presented his research in a talk entitled “From Novel Insights into Energy Metabolism Control by GIPR Agonism to New Therapies for Obesity and Diabetes”.
A Special Connection to Munich
Müller’s award also continues a special connection between metabolic research in Munich and the Gill Awards. Following Matthias Tschöp, Müller is the second scientist from a German research institution to receive a Gill distinction. Tschöp received the Gill Distinguished Scientist Award in 2014 while affiliated with the Technical University of Munich. He later served as Scientific Managing Director of Helmholtz Munich.
The Gill Transformative Investigator Award thus recognizes Müller’s long-standing contribution to a field of research that has fundamentally expanded the possibilities for treating obesity and type 2 diabetes in recent years.
