Award
2024.09.12
Genomics and Precision Medicine in the Merino Group
The Merino Group investigates how molecular, physiological, and environmental factors interact to shape early deviations in health, with a particular focus on glucose regulation. Our overarching goal is to uncover the biological and clinical heterogeneity underlying glycemic deterioration and to translate these insights into improved classification, prevention, and treatment of diabetes and its cardiometabolic complications
Our research program is structured around three complementary pillars designed to advance cellular, molecular, and clinical understanding of dysglycemia and identify more targeted strategies for the prevention and control of type 2 diabetes and related cardiometabolic diseases:
- Pillar 1: Early deviations in health parameters – we use wearable technologies, deep phenotype data, and cutting-edge modeling approaches to detect and characterize early glycemic deviations that occur many years before the diagnosis of the disease and scape conventional assessment tools.
- Pillar 2: Glucoregulatory mechanisms – We investigate the genetic and molecular underpinnings underlying the very early stages of glycemic dysregulation. We study these processes at the single-cell resolution in key glucoregulatory tissues to pinpoint the mechanisms driving early glycaemic disturbances and their link to cardiovascular disease.
- Pillar 3: Precision prevention: We develop and apply advanced AI-driven models to integrate molecular, clinical, and digital health data. Our aim is to identify individualized risk profiles and enable precision strategies for early intervention and prevention.
Through this integrative framework, the group seeks to deepen understanding of diabetes pathophysiology and to translate this knowledge into prevention strategies that are not only more precise and effective, but also widely accepted and implementable in real-world settings.
Heterogeneous effects of genetic variants and traits associated with fasting insulin on cardiometabolic outcomes.
Published in Nature Communications in 2025, this article uncovers the molecular heterogeneity underlying hyperinsulinemia and offers new avenues for generating process-specific pathways of disease with different implications in cardiometabolic outcomes.
Reporting guidelines for precision medicine research of clinical relevance: the BePRECISE checklist.
Published in Nature Medicine in 2024 this study provides a 23-item reporting checklist to improve transparency, comparability, and equity in precision medicine research, particularly for heterogeneous diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Validity of continuous glucose monitoring for categorizing glycemic responses to diet: implications for use in personalized nutrition
Published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2022, this secondary analysis from the PREDICT study demonstrated that continuous glucose monitors are reliable for categorizing glycemic responses to diet and highlighted their potential application for precision nutrition.
Funding Sources
2025 – 2030
Novo Nordisk Foundation – EUR 599,975
Role: PI. Title: DD2-PRECISE
2024 – 2029
European Federation for the Study of Diabetes – EUR 600,000
Role: PI. Title: Revealing Early Metabolic Dysregulation Signatures for Precision Type 2 Diabetes Prevention: REMEDY-T2D
2024 – 2028
European Innovation Council – Pathfinder Challenges – EUR 4,588,206
Role: PI. Title: Glucose variability patterns for precision nutrition in diabetes
2023 – 2024
European Federation for the Study of Diabetes – EUR 99,979
Role: Collaborator. Title: Identifying gene-physical activity interactions in type 2 diabetes by a reverse, targeted approach
2023 – 2024
Novo Nordisk Foundation – EUR 66,982
Role: PI. Title: Precision Nutrition Forum 2024
2020 – 2024
American Diabetes Association – EUR 445,341
Role: PI. Title: Hunger genes, food choices, and metabolic responses: implications for obesity and type 2 diabetes
2019 – 2021
Nutrition and Obesity Research at Harvard – EUR 119,980
Role: PI. Title: Clinical and physiological characterization of dietary intake genetic variation
2019 – 2020
Massachusetts General Hospital – EUR 79,035
Role: PI. Title: Clinical implications of dietary intake genetic variation on obesity and diabetes
2015 – 2018
European Comission – Marie Curie Actions – EUR 259,191
Role: PI. Title: Interplay between genetic determinants of glycemia, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease and lifestyle factors
Honors and awards
2024 Award, EFSD/NNF Future Leaders Award.
2024 Award, Early Career Award, Danish Diabetes and Endocrine Academy.
2022 Award, Outstanding Manuscript, Nutrition and Obesity Research Center at Harvard.
2016 Award, Levine-Riggs Young Investigator Award, City of Hope, USA
News
Precision nutrition
2024.07.03
What should I eat to stay healthy? Four-million-euro research project GLUCOTYPES is looking for answers
Award
2024.01.31
DDEA Award Recipient Jordi Merino Wants to Leave a Lasting Impact with His Genetics Research
Recruitment
2022.10.11
“If fixing metabolic diseases was easy, someone would have done it by now”
Staff list
| Name | Title | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atabaki, Natalie | Researcher | +4535333256 | |
| Fernandes, Maria | Postdoc | +4535336261 | |
| Merino, Jordi | Associate Professor | ||
| Nielsen, Lise Birk | Guest Researcher | +4535329083 | |
| Pruilh, Solange | Postdoc | +4535333924 | |
| Sangés Ametllé, Marina | Research Assistant | ||
| Sudhakar, Malvika | Postdoc | +4535321261 | |
| Zhou, Xuan | Postdoc | +4535327776 |