Department of Mouse Genetics and Metabolism

Institute for Genetics, University of Cologne

Department Head: Prof. Jens C. Brüning, MD

The group works on different projects aiming to characterize signaling pathways responsible for the regulation of energy and glucose homeostasis. The experimental approach focuses on the generation and characterization of mouse models with targeted disruption of genes in the leptin, insulin and cytokine signaling pathways. Particularly, the experiments are based on the establishment of conditional mutants with cell type-specific and/or timely controlled disruption of signaling molecules.
From a physiological point of view, the work focuses on two main areas:

• first, the characterization of signaling cascades initiated by insulin, leptin and cytokines in the hypothalamic regulation of energy homeostasis and
• second, the interaction of insulin resistance and inflammatory processes in the development of atherosclerosis.