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Young DZD Researcher Receives Dr. Eickelberg Foundation Prize

Marcel Blumensatt, a young scientist at the DZD partner institute German Diabetes Center (DDZ), has received the Dr. Eickelberg Foundation Prize 2016. In addition, an interdisciplinary team which explores the significance of a genotype for individual lifestyle preferences in patients with recently diagnosed diabetes was awarded a project grant.

Dr. Marcel Blumensatt, a young scientist at the German Diabetes Center (DDZ), has been awarded the Dr. Eickelberg Foundation Prize 2016. Blumensatt received the award for his research on secretion products from the epicardial adipose tissue of patients with type 2 diabetes that interfere with mitochondrial oxygen consumption in heart muscle cells. His research report was published in the international journal "Basic Research in Cardiology". “Thanks to the support of the Dr. Eickelberg Foundation, young researchers can be honored who have published pioneering papers in internationally recognized journals,” said Professor Michael Roden, scientific director and chairman of the executive board of the DDZ. “Scientific prizes are important to encourage and further motivate young scientists in their research.”

In addition to the Foundation Prize, which is endowed with 1500 euros, the Dr. Eickelberg Foundation is also sponsoring a project grant. This went to an interdisciplinary team led by Katharina Weber (Institute of Clinical Diabetology), Dr. Birgit Knebel (Institute of Clinical Biochemistry and Pathobiochemistry) and Dr. Klaus Strassburger (Institute of Biometry and Epidemiology). The team is researching the importance of the FTO genotype for individual food preferences and metabolic control in patients with recently diagnosed diabetes and will receive a grant of 3500 euros to further their research. The project is intended to make an innovative contribution to elucidating the interaction between genes and lifestyle in diabetes mellitus and shall be carried out at the German Diabetes Center.

The German Diabetes Center also awarded its own project grant within the framework of the Training and Feasibility Grants (TFG to three young scientists. Kálmán Bódis (Institute of Clinical Diabetology), Dr. Alexandra Chadt (Institute of Clinical Biochemistry and Pathobiochemistry) and Dr. Dominik Pesta (Institute of Clinical Diabetology) are jointly investigating to what extent physical training in humans and animals stimulates the browning of white subcutaneous adipose tissue. The objective of the researchers is to find out whether physical activity also activates fatty tissue and via increased combustion in the mitochondria (power plants of the cells), the metabolism is stimulated and improved. This mechanism could lead to new therapy approaches for people with type 2 diabetes, who often suffer from an excess of white adipose tissue (obesity).