Integration of extracellular hormonal and nutrient signals into comprehensive gene expression patterns leads to tightly choreographed phenotypic responses that regulate metabolism and cellular differentiation. My overall research interest is to elucidate the fundamental molecular mechanisms that regulate glucose and lipid metabolismthrough the study of transcriptional and translational regulators that control energy homeostasis in response to physiological (i.e. fasting) and environmental (i.e. caloric excess) stress. Our work focuses on understanding transcriptional and microRNA regulatory networks and their interactions in pancreatic b-cells, liver, fat and hypothalamus. The importance of genetic/genomic regulation in the maintenance of glucose and lipid homeostasis is underscored by the many examples of aberrant signal transduction and transcriptional activation resulting in obesity and type 2 diabetes and thedevelopment of secondary complications.

Prof. Stoffel joined the consortium in January 2015. He replaces Prof. Ulf Landmesser who has become the director of the Department of Cardiology at the Charité Universitätsmedizin in Berlin.