News
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First hybrid LOCOTACT lecture with Christoph Kuppe
We were very pleased that PD Dr.med. Christoph Kuppe, Division of Nephrology and Clinical Immunology from RWTH University, Medical Faculty, Aachen visited us in Essen for our LOCOTACT Lecture in October 2023.
PD Dr. med. Kuppe talked about the research conducted in his lab including usage of multi-omics data and analysis of human FFPE tissue with the MERFISH technique.
Thank you for this impressing presentation!
![Jens Mittag, Head of the Institute of Endocrinology and Diabetes at the University of Lübeck (left) with Dr. Rebecca Ölkrug, Junior Group Leader "Thyroid & BAT Programming" and first author of the study.](/images/PM_Mittag_IMG_1622_Presse.jpeg)
Nature Communications Publication: Activation of maternal thyroid hormone receptor affects brown fat tissue in offspring
We congratulate LOCOTACT PI Jens Mittag for his recent publication in Nature Communications!
He and his team found that thyroid hormones in the mother during pregnancy had an influence on the subsequent activity of brown adipose tissue in the offspring.
Abstract:
"It is well established that maternal thyroid hormones play an important role for the developing fetus; however, the consequences of maternal hyperthyroidism for the offspring remain poorly understood. Here we show in mice that maternal 3,3’,5-triiodothyronine (T3) treatment during pregnancy leads to improved glucose tolerance in the adult male offspring and hyperactivity of brown adipose tissue (BAT) thermogenesis in both sexes starting early after birth. The activated BAT provides advantages upon cold exposure, reducing the strain on other thermogenic organs like muscle. This maternal BAT programming requires intact maternal thyroid hormone receptor β (TRβ) signaling, as offspring of mothers lacking this receptor display the opposite phenotype. On the molecular level, we identify distinct T3 induced alterations in maternal serum metabolites, including choline, a key metabolite for healthy pregnancy. Taken together, our results connect maternal TRβ activation to the fetal programming of a thermoregulatory phenotype in the offspring"
Original publication:
Oelkrug, R., Harder, L., Pedaran, M. et al. Maternal thyroid hormone receptor β activation in mice sparks brown fat thermogenesis in the offspring. Nat Commun 14, 6742 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-42425-w
Caroline Frädrich wins 1st poster prize at MRC opening
Big congratulations to PhD student Caroline Frädrich from P16 for winning the 1st poster prize among more than 40 posters presented at the grand opening symposium of the new Max Rubner Center for Cardiovascular Metabolic Renal Research (MRC) at Charite - Universitätsmedizin Berlin.
On September 28, 2023, Caroline presented her poster "Identifying endocrine disruptors via a high throughput screening platform" and was awarded the day after placing first.
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Heike Heuer presents at ESPE 2023
The 61st Annual Meeting of the European Society for Pediatric Endocrinology (ESPE 2023) is dedicated to education, research, knowledge and clinical practice of pediatric endocrinology and metabolism including children’s and adolescent’s disorders of the hormone producing glands of the body and puberty, growth and sexual development problems. These include thyroid, diabetes, early and late puberty, adrenal gland problems and growth hormone deficiency.
LOCOTACT PI Heike Heuer was invited to the ESPE 2023 in order to give a symposium talk in the Thyroid Session on Saturday, 23.09.2023. Her presentation was entitled "The role of thyroid hormone transporters in brain development and function".
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Heiker Heuer receives prestigious ETJ Lecture Award at ETA 2023
On September, 9th, 2023, LOCOTACT PI Heiker Heuer was awarded with the highly renowed ETJ Lecture Award from the European Thyroid Association (ETA). This prize is supported by the ETA to draw attention to the work of its journal, the European Thyroid Journal (ETJ).
Thus, Heike Heuer presented in the prestigous plenary ETJ Lecture at the 2023 ETA Meeting taking place in Milan, Italy, about "MCT8 deficiency – basic mplications and therapeutic approaches" and was honoured afterwards by Prof. Simon Pearce, President of the British Thyroid Association and Editor in Chief of the European Thyroid Journal, who handed over the Award.
Congratulations for this great achievement!
LOCOTACT Lectures – Alexandra Dumitrescu
The LOCOTACT Lecture in August 2023 was held by Prof. Dumitrescu from the University of Chicago.
Under the title “The control of thyroid hormone levels by the deiodinases - lessons from genetic defects in humans and mice”, she explained the role of the deiodinases and their mutations in thyroid hormone metabolism at different stages of development and how it relates to the lesser known deiodinase related genetic defects in humans.
We thank Alexandra Dumitrescu for her inspiring talk, the lively discussion and for sharing her great expertise with the audience.
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ETA Project Research Grant for LOCOTACT PostDoc Leonardo de Assis
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1st International LOCOTACT Conference 2023
The 1st International LOCOTACT Conference has been a great success!
During three days more than 120 participants were able to intensively exchange and discuss the latest research results on local thyroid hormone action, develop new ideas and establish new collaborations and networks for the future. We feel very honored that many international renowened experts in the field of thyroid hormone action followed our invitation and delivered inspriring and superb lectures! THANK YOU!
Anita Boelen - Amsterdam UMC, The Netherlands
Krishna Chatterjee - Cambridge Clinical Research Centre, UK
Monica Dentice - University of Naples, Italy
Anthony Hollenberg - Boston Medical Center, USA
Laurent Sachs - CNRS-MNHN, Paris, France
W. Edward Visser – EMC Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Graham Williams - Imperial College London, UK
Since LOCOTACT is very passionate about promoting young talents we are extremely pleased that many young scientists were able to present their projects in lectures and during the poster sessions and that at an exceptionally high level. The three best poster presentations were awarded with a poster prize - congratulations to the prize winners: Niki Alevyzaki (Lab of Heike Heuer), Leonardo de Assis (Lab of Henrik Oster) and Lisa Ständer (Lab of Timo D. Müller).
1st row: Impressions of the 1st Intenational LOCOTACt conference; 2nd row: Best Poster Presentation awardees (f.l.t.r): Niki Alevyzaki, Leonardo de Assis, Lisa Ständer; 3rd row: CRC/TR 296 LOCOTACT consortium 2023. (Pictures © locotact)
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LOCOTACT at 66th annual meeting of the Germany Society for Endocrinology (DGE)
The 66th annual meeting of the Germany Society for Endocrinology (DGE) took place from 05.-07. June 2023 in Baden-Baden.
Many LOCOTACT researchers have been invited to give oral presentations and present posters.
Oral presentations: Steffen Mayerl (Essen), Peter Kühnen (Berlin), Yara Maria Machlah (Essen), Jakob Gloge (Essen), Knut Mai (Berlin), Timo Müller (Munich)
Poster presentations: Nuria López-Alcántara, Ann-Kathrin Schörding
We are proud to anounce that several prizes have been awarded to LOCOTACT members:
von Basedow-Preis: Nuria López-Alcántara (PhD candidate in the lab of Jens Mittag, P14) for her project on the role of thyroid hormone receptor β in the progression of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. read more
YARE travel grant: Julia Maier (PhD candidate in the lab of Jens Mittag, P12) is conducting research to elucidate molecular mechanisms of hypothyroidism in anxiety disorders. read more
Poster award: Ann-Kathrin Schörding (Clinician Scientist in the lab of Lars Möller) for her poster about "Bone metabolism in mice requires canonical TRα action".
Left: from left to right: Nuria López Alcántara and Julia Maier in front of the CBBM research building at University of Lübeck (picture: Jens Mittag).
Middle: Nuria López Alcántara at DGE 2023 during the "von Basedow-Preis" Lecture (picture: Julia Maier).
Right: Ann-Kathrin Schörding in front of her poster (picture: Christoph Hoppe).