Prof. Dr. Cristina García Cáceres
Deputy Director and Head of Astrocyte-Neuron Network Unit, IDO“Astrocytes were until recently considered less relevant than neurons, but we provide evidence supporting that the functioning of those glial cells is required for the brain governs systemic metabolism including blood pressure in obesity”
“Astrocytes were until recently considered less relevant than neurons, but we provide evidence supporting that the functioning of those glial cells is required for the brain governs systemic metabolism including blood pressure in obesity”
Career
Prof. Dr. García-Cáceres was originally recruited to the Helmholtz Munich in 2012 from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid as a Postdoctoral Scientist, and in 2015 was promoted to lead the Astrocyte-Neuron Network Unit at the Institute for Diabetes and Obesity. Since then, she has established and consolidated her own research group focused on studying the properties and physiological consequences of the communication between neurons and astrocytes, aiming to understand the role of those glial cells in physiological and pathological aspects of brain function in the neuroendocrine control of metabolism. Her work was awarded by the prestigious ERC Starting Grant and has already resulted in a paradigm shift in how glucose gets into the brain and how hypothalamic astrocytes tune sympathetic outflow towards cardiovascular target organs for controlling blood pressure.
Fields of Work and Expertise
Obesity neuroendocrinologyhypothalamusgliaastrocytes
Professional Background
W2 Professor
W2 Professor of Neuroendocrinology of Systems Metabolism at the Faculty of Medicine of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) and the Helmholtz Munich.
Deputy Director at the Institute
Deputy Director at the Institute for Diabetes and Obesity at Helmholtz Munich, Munich, Germany.
Co-leadership and coordinator
Co-leadership and coordinator of the Brain Academy at the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD) and Associate Investigator of Munich Cluster For Systems Neurology (Synergy).
Head of the Astrocyte-Neuron Networks
Head of the Astrocyte-Neuron Networks Unit at the Institute for Diabetes and Obesity, Helmholtz Diabetes Center at Helmholtz Munich, Munich, Germany.
Honors and Awards
DAG Research Award

Awarded by Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres for the establishment of W2 professorship

ERC Starting Grant (ERC-ST2017) by European Research Council. Project: Astrocyte-Neuronal Crosstalk in Obesity and Diabetes (Project number: 757393)

Awarded by ERA-NET NEURON for Excellent Paper in Neuroscience (EPNA) 2017. Astrocytic Insulin Signaling Couples Brain Glucose Uptake with Nutrient Availability. Cell. 2016 Aug 11;166(4):867-80
Highlight Publications
More on PubMed2023 Mar 7 Cell Metab.
Estradiol regulates leptin sensitivity to control feeding via hypothalamic Cited1
2023 Mar Nature
The dietary sweetener sucralose is a negative modulator of T cell-mediated responses
2022 Jul 8. Glia
Diet triggers specific responses of hypothalamic astrocytes in time and region dependent manner
2021 Apr 30 Cell Metab.