Research
2025.03.07
Metabolism and Molecular Pharmacology in the Clemmensen Group
The Clemmensen Group studies the biological regulation of body weight and aims at developing new therapeutic strategies that can correct obesity and its metabolic comorbidities.
The focus of the Clemmensen Group is to dissect key regulatory nodes of body weight biology. We are particularly invested in parsing the physiological and molecular mechanisms that protect against weight gain. Toward this goal, we have established rodent and human models of ‘experimental overfeeding’. Another major focus area of the group is to unravel the consequences of energy balance perturbations on neuroplasticity – with special emphasis on glutamatergic post-synaptic events in the hypothalamus.
Inspired and encouraged by our research in energy balance and neuroscience, we employ medicinal chemistry to engineer new drug candidates for the treatment of obesity and obesity-associated diseases. We utilize modified peptide hormones to deliver small molecules of interest to target cells, with the long-term aspiration to create new drugs that will lower the defended level of body fat.
“GLP-1-directed NMDA receptor antagonism for obesity treatment”
Published in Nature in 2024 this article demonstrates the feasibility of using peptide-mediated targeting to achieve cell-specific ionotropic receptor modulation and highlights the therapeutic potential of unimolecular mixed GLP-1 receptor agonism and NMDA receptor antagonism for obesity treatment.
“Targeting postsynaptic glutamate receptor scaffolding proteins PSD-95 and PICK1 for obesity treatment”
Published in Science Advances in 2024 this work demonstrate that the glutamate receptor scaffolding proteins, PICK1 and PSD-95, are genetically linked to obesity and that pharmacological targeting of their PDZ domains represents a promising therapeutic avenue for sustained weight loss.
"Protection against overfeeding-induced weight gain is preserved in obesity but does not require FGF21 or MC4R"
Published in Nature Communications in 2024 we show that the defense against overfeeding-induced weight gain remains intact in obese rodents and involves mechanisms independent of both FGF21 and MC4R.
"The anorectic and thermogenic effects of pharmacological lactate in male mice are confounded by treatment osmolarity and co-administered counterions"
Published in Nature Metabolism in 2023 we reveal that the widespread metabolic benefits linked to lactate treatment in rodents are confounded by the hypertonicity of the injected solutions.
The Clemmensen Group is funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, The Lundbeck Foundation, The BioInnovation Institute, Independent Research Fund Denmark, The Danish Diabetes Academy, Copenhagen Bioscience PhD Programme and the European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes (EFSD).
Staff list
| Name | Title | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clemmensen, Christoffer | Associate Professor | ||
| Holm, Stephanie Kjærulff | Postdoc | ||
| Johansen, Valdemar Brimnes Ingemann | Research Assistant | ||
| Lange, Emilie Cathrine Holst | Bachelor student | +4535334428 | |
| Lund, Jens | Postdoc | +4535326622 | |
| Mathiesen, Cecilie Vad | PhD Fellow | ||
| Merrild, Christoffer | PhD Fellow | ||
| Olsen, Sofie Amalie | Laboratory Assistant | ||
| Petersen, Simon Bech | Laboratory Technician | +4535331248 | |
| Petersen, Jonas Odgaard | Postdoc | +4535328066 | |
| Picciau, Federico | Guest Researcher | ||
| Svendsen, Charlotte Sashi Aier | Laboratory Technician | ||
| Vear, Anika Else | Postdoc | +4535328658 | |
| Weinreich, Cecilie Moe | Academic Research Staff | +4535328781 |