German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke (DIfE)
The DIfE investigates the influence of nutrition on health and makes scientific knowledge usable for prevention and therapy. Scientists combine their expertise in basic and applied research: from cells and mice to epidemiological observations and human intervention aiming to translate new approaches most efficiently from the lab to patients.
Our team has broad expertise in evaluating the causes and pathomechanisms of obesity. In work packages 3 and 4, we will compare genetic and epigenetic changes in muscle and adipose (fat) tissue under different lifestyle and clinical conditions.
Specifically, we will profile mice after an intermittent fasting programme and after exercise, and we will analyse tissue from people with obesity before and one year after bariatric (weight-loss) surgery. This comparative approach allows us to examine how distinct interventions remodel metabolic tissues and to identify molecular signatures linked to improved metabolic health.
In close collaboration with the other Obelisk partners, we will then align and compare these intervention-responsive gene changes with molecular patterns already described in children, helping to pinpoint shared mechanisms and early risk markers. The most promising candidate genes will be functionally tested in vitro and in vivo using CRISPR/Cas9 to define their roles in metabolism. By mapping these pathways, our contribution is expected to reveal actionable biomarkers and therapeutic targets, ultimately informing better prevention strategies and improving long-term outcomes for children at risk of obesity.
People
Annette performed her PhD in biology, her habilitation in pharmacology and a research stay at the Scripps Research Institute (La Jolla, California) before she was appointed associate professor of RWTH Aachen. Since 2002 she has been working at the German Institute for Human Nutrition in Potsdam-Rehbruecke (DIfE) initially as Head of the Endocrine Pharmacology Group and since 2009 as full professor and head of the Department of Experimental Diabetology. She was awarded with the Werner-Creutzfeldt-Award and the Hellmut Otto Medaille from the German Diabetes Association and the DAG Medaille of the German Obesity Association.
Meriem obtained her Master’s degree in genetics from University of Tunis el Manar and then moved to Paris in 2011 to perform her PhD in biology in the research unit INSERM U986. She obtained her PhD degree from Paris Descartes University in 2015 and since then she joined the Department of Experimental Diabetology for a Postdoctoral fellowship. Her research is focusing on epigenetic regulation of obesity and type two diabetes. In 2020, Meriem was awarded the Silvia King Prize from the German Diabetes Society (DDG).
Heike obtained her PhD in Molecular Cell Biology at the University of Potsdam (Germany) before she performed a Postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Gothenburg (Sweden). Since 2021 she is head of the Research group Genetics of Obesity at the DIfE and the Junior research group Molecular and Clinical Life Science of Metabolic Diseases at the University of Potsdam, where she also completed her habilitation in 2022 in Physiology and Pathophysiology. Her research focuses on genetic factors driving muscle insulin sensitivity. She was awarded as best young researcher of the year in 2013 and received the Michelson Award for the best dissertation in 2009/2010 at the University of Potsdam.
Miriam studied molecular biology and biotechnology at the Technical University of Graz in Austria where she received her Master’s degree in 2023. She is a PhD student since 2024 at the German Institute for Human Nutrition in Potsdam-Rehbruecke (DIfE) in the Department of Experimental Diabetology. She is also part of the group Nutrigenomics of Obesity. She investigates the plasticity of obesity-associated epigenetic and transcriptional alterations after invasive and non-invasive interventions.
