Supervisor
Prof. Dr. med. Antje Körner
Antje Körner is a pediatrician scientist with sub-specialization in pediatric endocrinology for >15 years. Her research interests are the origin of childhood obesity and ensuing complications, with a focus on adipose tissue biology, the genetic background of obesity including functional genetics, and novel treatment approaches. With her team she has established unique childhood cohorts including an adipose tissue cohort (over 700 participants), Leipzig Childhood Obesity Cohort (over 2500 participants) and populational childhood cohort LIFE Child (over 6000 participants). Antje Körner’s scientific achievements include the identification of early childhood as critical window for development of sustained obesity (PMID: 30281992), rethinking risk definition and prediction of future dysglycemia applying new parameters (PMID: 37465325) and identification of a new monogenic obesity trait (PMID: 36536132). It is her ambition to foster pediatric research on early origins of common diseases in childhood in general, and more specifically, to overcome the treatment gap in pediatric obesity through risk-profiling and understanding of mechanisms. Antje Körner is a member of the board of directors of the German Center of Child and Adolescent Health (DZKJ) and Co-Chair of the Excellence Cluster Leipzig Center of Metabolism (LeiCeM).
Selected publications
Lazarescu O. et al. | Human subcutaneous and visceral adipocyte atlases uncover classical and nonclassical adipocytes and depot-specific patterns.
Nature Genetics (2025), DOI: 10.1038/s41588-024-02048-3
Hammel M.C. et al. | Fasting indices of glucose-insulin-metabolism across life span and prediction of glycemic deterioration in children with obesity from new diagnostic cut-offs.
Lancet Reg Health Eur (2023), DOI: 10.1016/j.lanepe.2023.100652
Kempf E. et al. | Aberrant expression of agouti signaling protein (ASIP) as a cause of monogenic severe childhood obesity.
Nat Metab (2022), DOI: 10.1038/s42255-022-00703-9
Geserick M. et al. | Acceleration of BMI in Early Childhood and Risk of Sustained Obesity.
N Engl J Med (2018), DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1803527
Research group website: Research Group Antje Körner