Asma joined the research group “Diet-Induced Metabolic Alterations” lead by Dr. Alexander Jais in January 2025, where she studies how hypothalamic PNOC neurons regulate adipose tissue metabolism and systemic glucose homeostasis. Her research combines transgenic mouse models and chemogenetic tools to investigate brain-adipose tissue communication. She won the category “Molecular and Systemic Neurobiology” for her poster presentation on “Thermoregulatory mPOA PNOC Neurons Modulate Adipose Tissue Metabolism”.
Helen is a member of the PD Dr. Dr. John Heiker’s group titled “Molecular Obesity Research” since February 2024 and is interested in the cell-specific role of different proteins in regulating cellular metabolism. By using animal models as well as primary human and mouse adipocytes, she investigates the involvement of these target proteins in the regulation of thermogenesis and energy expenditure. With her poster presentation "Restoring Myoglobin in Brown Fat Improves Metabolic Homeostasis" she won in the category "Diseases of Civilisation - Obesity".
Bárbara joined John Heiker’s group in January of this year. In her work, she aims to characterize DNA methylation profiles in white adipose tissue using a murine model of prediabetes, and to evaluate how these changes may be modulated by dietary interventions. She won the research prize in the category “Molecular and Cellular Biology – Biomedicine II” for her poster presentation titled “Fructose-Induced DNA Methylation Changes in Visceral White Adipose Tissue
The Leipzig Research Festival of Life Sciences is organized by the Medical Faculty and the Faculty of Life Sciences of Leipzig University since 2002 and aims to support and promote young scientists by offering a platform to present their projects, collect feedback and to connect them with colleagues of the same as well as neighbouring scientific fields.
