FOR 5298:  iMAGO - Personalized diagnostics for the treatment of obesity

• Subject Area: Medicine
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 455422993

Obesity is one of the non-communicable widespread diseases. It increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, lipometabolic disorders, and other comorbidities. The high prevalence of obesity in the population causes significant health care costs due to widespread massive health restrictions in patients and increased mortality. However, long-term effective therapy for sustainable weight reduction and positive influence on the metabolism is still not available. Short-term successful weight loss through defined lifestyle interventions, such as caloric restriction and/or exercise training, shows considerable individual variation. The identification of biomarkers for these metabotypes and their metabolic adaptations to defend body fat stores in the course of lifestyle interventions would help to detect the onset of these adaptations at an early stage and appropriately adjust the type and intensity of the interventions for each individual.The Research Unit aims to further develop and apply new non-invasive imaging technologies based on optoacoustics and magnetic resonance for safe and longitudinal monitoring of parameters of energy and lipid metabolism, in particular in adipose tissue and muscle in vivo. This includes dynamic measurements of hemoglobin (oxygenated/deoxygenated), oxygen saturation rate, blood volume and flow rate, lipid profiles, as well as lipid and water content in cells and tissues. In pilot studies with participants with obesity, insulin-resistance and diabetes we will record and analyze the dynamic responses of these parameters during acute metabolic challenges (test meal, exposure to cold, training) in order to identify biomarkers for individual metabotypes. We will use and evaluate the new imaging technologies for detection and longitudinal monitoring of selected biomarkers in an intervention study with caloric restriction or exercise training. In particular, we are interested in biomarkers that reflect metabolic adaptations in muscle and fat tissue during the course of the intervention and are associated with positive changes in the systemic metabolic status. Our Research Unit will investigate the suitability of such biomarkers for personalizing lifestyle interventions. The long-term goal is the development of new diagnostic approaches through label-free measurement of the current metabolic status, which will create new possibilities in personalized nutrition and medicine for the treatment of overweight and obesity.

• DFG Programme: Research Units

Projects

• A novel toolkit for motion-robust multi-parametric quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging of human adipose tissue (Applicant Karampinos, Ph.D., Dimitrios )
• Coordination Funds (Applicant Klingenspor, Martin )
• Label-free imaging of lipid-glucose metabolism in cells, tissues, and animals (Applicants Li, Yongguo ;  Pleitez Rafael, Ph.D., Miguel Angel )
• Label-free imaging of metabolic parameters in animals and humans (Applicant Ntziachristos, Vasilis )
• Meal-associated metabolic responses in brown adipose tissue and skeletal muscle related to weight loss (Applicants Klingenspor, Martin ;  Skurk, Thomas )
• Multispectral Optoacoustic Tomography (MSOT) of human brown adipose tissue and skeletal muscle (Applicant Klingenspor, Martin )
• Non-traditional biomarkers in intermuscular adipose tissue to monitor metabolic health (Applicant Hofmann, Susanna )

• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Martin Klingenspor