ResearcherID: N-4189-2014
Scopus ID: 35475650900
Primary research interests:
My primary research interests are regulation of muscle metabolism, particularly during and following exercise. This includes acute exercise and exercise training. Emphasis has been on regulation of glucose metabolism and muscle glucose uptake during exercise as well as regulation of insulin sensitivity following exercise and training. Besides the deep interest in revealing physiological and molecular mechanisms, the objectives are to delineate the molecular mechanisms behind the positive health effects of exercise. We know very well that basically all forms of exercise have positive health effects but we have little knowledge about the molecular mechanisms that are responsible for these effects. These mechanisms are important to understand as they might reveal novel drug candidate pathways that could be beneficial for prevention and treatment of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases.
320 publications on PubMed, >17500 citations and H-Index of 79 (Web of Science)
Personal Awards and Honours:
- PI of the University of Copenhagen Excellence Grant 2016 with the title “Physical activity, Nutrition and Health” 2013-2017, 25,3 million dkk
- Knight of the Order of Dannebrog 2013
- Novo Nordisk Prize 2012
- Honor Award Biochemistry of Exercise 2012
- Citation Award American College of Sports and Medicine, 2005.
Selected recent publications:
- Sjoberg,KA, Frosig,C, Kjobsted,R, Sylow,L, Kleinert,M, Betik,AC, Shaw,CS, Kiens,B, Wojtaszewski,JF, Rattigan,S, Richter,EA, McConell,GK: Exercise Increases Human Skeletal Muscle Insulin Sensitivity Via Coordinated Increases in Microvascular Perfusion and Molecular Signaling. Diabetes 2017
- Sylow,L, Kleinert,M, Richter,EA, Jensen,TE: Exercise-stimulated glucose uptake - regulation and implications for glycaemic control. Nat Rev Endocrinol 13:133-148, 2017
- Kleinert,M, Parker,BL, Chaudhuri,R, Fazakerley,DJ, Serup,A, Thomas,KC, Krycer,JR, Sylow,L, Fritzen,AM, Hoffman,NJ, Jeppesen,J, Schjerling,P, Ruegg,MA, Kiens,B, James,DE, Richter,EA: mTORC2 and AMPK differentially regulate muscle triglyceride content via Perilipin 3. Mol Metab 5:646-655, 2016
- Sylow,L, Nielsen,IL, Kleinert,M, Moller,LL, Ploug,T, Schjerling,P, Bilan,PJ, Klip,A, Jensen,TE, Richter,EA: Rac1 governs exercise-stimulated glucose uptake in skeletal muscle through regulation of GLUT4 translocation in mice. J Physiol 594:4997-5008, 2016
- Hoffman,NJ, Parker,BL, Chaudhuri,R, Fisher-Wellman,KH, Kleinert,M, Humphrey,SJ, Yang,P, Holliday,M, Trefely,S, Fazakerley,DJ, Stockli,J, Burchfield,JG, Jensen,TE, Jothi,R, Kiens,B, Wojtaszewski,JF, Richter,EA, James,DE: Global Phosphoproteomic Analysis of Human Skeletal Muscle Reveals a Network of Exercise-Regulated Kinases and AMPK Substrates. Cell Metab 22:922-935, 2015
Date of Birth: 17 May 1952
Education
1984: D.M.Sci., University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
1979: M.D., University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Professional Experience
2012- now: Full professor of Human Physiology and Exercise Physiology, Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
1998-2012: Full Professor of Human Physiology/Exercise Physiology, Institute of Exercise and Sport Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
1997-1998: Full Professor of Human Physiology, August Krogh Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
1985-1997: Associate Professor of Physiology, August Krogh Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
1984-1985: Resident at the Copenhagen University Hospital in medicine and surgery.
1979-1983: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Medical Physiology B, University of Copenhagen, Denmark and Division of Diabetes and Metabolism, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. 2 years of this time were spent in Boston.
Personal Awards and Honours
- 2013: Knighted by the Queen of Denmark
- 2012: Honour Award, Biochemistry of Exercise Research Group
- 2012: Novo Nordisk Prize 2012
- 2010: First designated Scandinavian Physiological Society lecturer at the Australian Physiological Society Meeting, Adelaide
- 2010: Doctor Honoris Causa, Catholic University Leuven, Belgium
- 2006: Miegunyah Distinguished Fellowship from University of Melbourne. (October-November)
- 2005: Edward F. Adolph Distinguished Lecturer at the IUPS Conference, San Diego
- 2005: Citation Award of the American college of Sports Medicine
- 2002: Dandy-award for scientific contributions to the understanding of insulin sensitivity
- 1995: "Grosserer Ernst Fischers Award" (private organization for advancement of research in Diabetes)
- 1994: Salary bonus from the University of Copenhagen for good leadership in research
- 1990: "Bernhard Rasmussens Award", Danish Diabetes Association
- 1984: New Investigator Award, American College of Sports Medicine
Publications
As of March 2017 I have published 319 peer-reviewed manuscripts, proceedings, reviews and editorials listed by PubMed and these papers have in total received >17.000 citations. My list of publications includes papers in N.Engl.J.Med.; J.Clin.Invest.; Cell Metabolism; PNAS; FASEB J.; Diabetes; J.Physiol.; Am.J.Physiol.; J.Appl.Physiol.; Physiol.Rev., Nature Reviews Endocrinology and Handbook of Physiology. My H-index is 79 (Web of knowledge). In addition I have published 32 proceedings, textbook chapters and reviews not listed by Pubmed.
Book edited: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol.441: Skeletal Muscle Metabolism in Exercise and Diabetes, Plenum Press, N.Y., 1998, pp.35-46. Eds: Richter, E.A., Kiens,B., Galbo,H. and Saltin,B.
Textbook Chapter: Galbo, H and Richter,E.A. Exercise. In: International Textbook of Diabetes Mellitus. Third ed. Chapter 43, pp 771-994. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons, Ltd., 2004. This was updated in 2016.
- 2015: Main organizer of the Copenhagen University lifestyle, obesity and metabolism platform (KU-LOM) first meeting, Copenhagen, May 2015.
- 2012: Member of the organizing committee for the symposium "Exercise, metabolism and insulin sensitivity, Copenhagen, December 2012.
- 2008: Member of the organizing committee of the 5th International AMPK meeting, Copenhagen, August 2008.
- 2007: Member of the organizing committee of the EXGENESIS Summer School, Copenhagen, August 2007.
- 2006: Member of the organizing committee of the 4th International AMPK meeting, Colorado, August 2006.
- 2005: Member of the organizing committee of the satellite symposium to the EASD symposium in Copenhagen 2005: “Effects of exercise on insulin sensitivity: what is new?”
- 2001-2002: Chairman of the local organizing committee of the Baltic Summer School, Copenhagen, Denmark.
- 1996-1997: Chairman of the organizing committee of the Second Copenhagen Muscle Research Centre Research Symposium.
Selected managerial and directing activities
- 2011-present: Head of the Section of Molecular Physiology, Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports and member of the Board of Directors of the Department, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
- 1997-2011: Head of the Section of Human Physiology, Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
- 1997-2007: Head of the Research and Ph.D.-board, Department of Exercise and Sports Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
- 1987-1988 & 1994-1997: Head of Laboratory of Human Physiology, August Krogh Institute.
- 1994-present: Senior Scientist of the Copenhagen Muscle Research Centre.
- 1994-1997: Member of the board of the Danish Endocrine Society.
- 1987-1996: Member of the Research Board of August Krogh Institute.
- 1993-1996: Member of the Ph.D. Board of August Krogh Institute.
- 1994-1996: Member of the Board of August Krogh Institute.
Editorial activities
- 1999-present: Editorial Board, Scand. J. of Med. Sci. Sport Exer. (DK)
- 2000-2003: Member of the Editorial board of Diabetes (USA)
- 2005-2011: Associate Editor, Journal of Applied Physiology (USA)
- 2014- 2016: Consulting Editor, Diabetes (USA)
Evaluations
Examiner on PhD thesis at University of Copenhagen, 1988, 1993,1997,1999, 2001, 2003, 2004,2006,2007; 2009;2011,2012;2013 and 2014 and at University of Melbourne, Australia 1994, 2001 and 2007; Deakin University, Melbourne 2001, Gent University in 2000 and 2011 and Odense University, Denmark 2002 and Karolinska Instituttet, Stockholm 2000 and 2003.
Examinator on doctoral theses at University of Lund, Sweden in 1992 and 2014; at University of Copenhagen (medicine) in 1995 and 2013; at Karolinska Institute 1999 and 2003, and University of Odense, Denmark 2004 and 2007 and University of Gøteborg, Sweden in 2014.
Examinator for job-promotion at Karolinska Institute, Stockholm (docenturansöknad) in 1991 and at Arbejdsmiljøinstitutet, Oslo (Seniorforskeroprykning) in 1992.
Examinator of research merits for professors at University of California, Berkeley, USA 1990, 1992 and 1994 and at Vanderbilt University 1997, Guelph University 2003,Toronto University 2004 and 2010, Yale university 2004 and UCLA 2004 and 2013, one Israeli professorship 1998 and 2013, Professorial evaluation for University of Basel 2015 and Professorial evaluation at University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Health Sciences, 2008 and 2015.
Examinator of research projects submitted to the Welcome trust, London 1992, 1994, 1997 and 2006 and Diabetes UK in 2010 and 2014 and to the National Science and Engineering Research Council, Canada 1994, 1996 and 2015, for the Australian MRC in 2006 and 2009, for the Research Council of Flanders in 2001, 2014, 2016 and 2017, The Swiss Research Foundation 2016, ERC 2016 and for various foreign private research foundations every year.
Supervision
I have completed supervision of more than 45 master’s projects, 15 PhD students and 14 postdoctoral fellows. At the moment I am supervising 3 PhD students, 2 postdoctoral fellows and 4 master student projects.
Examples of mentored students
- Mark Hargreaves, PhD student 1989-1990: Now Professor of Physiology, Melbourne University, Australia
- Lorraine Turcotte, postdoc 1990-93: Now professor of Physiology at UCLA Los Angeles, USA
- Peter Hespel, postdoc 1988-1991: Now Professor of Physiology at Catholic University, Leuven, Belgium
- Jørgen Wojtaszewski, PhD-student 1995-1998: Now professor in Molecular Signaling, Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences, University of Copenhagen.
- Wim Derave, PhD student, 1998-2001: Now professor of Exercise Physiology, University of Ghent, Belgium
- Jacob N. Nielsen, PhD student 1998-2001 and postdoc 2001-2003: Now Project Vice President at Novo Nordisk, Denmark
- Adam Rose, postdoc 2004-2008: Now junior group leader at German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) Heidelberg Center for Molecular Biology (ZMBH), University of Heidelberg, Germany
- Thomas E. Jensen, postdoc 2007-2011: Now associate professor at Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen
Funding
I have been continuously independently funded since 1985 by mainly the Danish Medical Research Council, The Danish Natural Science Research Council, The Lundbeck foundation and the Novo Nordisk Foundation. I have also been work package leader in several large EU-funded consortia, a founding member of the Copenhagen Muscle Research Centre funded by the Danish National Research Foundation in the period 1994-2004 and the UNIK project “Food, Fitness and Pharma” funded by the Danish Ministry of Science and Education in 2009-2014 (120 million dkk = approx. 20 million US dollars). Currently PI of the project “Exercise, Nutrition and Health” funded by the University of Copenhagen Excellence Funds 2013-2017 (25 million dkk = approx. 4 million dollars).
Invited lectures
I have performed 3-6 invited lectures at various international meetings per year for the last 30 years.
Other activities
Together with Professor Bente Kiens, I took the initiative to establish the Copenhagen Muscle Research Centre, funded by the Danish National Research Foundation from 1994-2004.