Martin Giera appointed professor

Metabolites are small substances that originate and participate in many processes in your body. Lipids is another word for fats that can serve as energy sources and building blocks.

Giera: ““By identifying specific metabolites and lipids associated with certain diseases, we hope to contribute in the future to earlier and more accurate diagnoses, better monitoring of treatment effectiveness and identifying new treatment options for various disease states. These include inflammatory diseases, cancer and neurological disorders. In addition, the knowledge from the research can contribute to more personalized and effective patient care, where treatments can be better tailored to the individual metabolic profile of the patient. We are not doing this research alone, but in close collaboration with clinical and pharmaceutical partners.”

Critical, interdisciplinary scientists

In addition to research and care, his chair also focuses on education. Giera: “hopes to train students and doctoral students to become critical, interdisciplinary thinking scientists who are analytically strong and can conduct clinically relevant research. “As a student or PhD student, you will learn the use of advanced analytical techniques, such as mass spectrometry or NMR, with us.” In a mass spectrometer, the amount and identity of a molecule can be determined, and thus the molecular composition of samples can be compared. NMR spectroscopy is a technique for mapping the structure of metabolites very precisely. “In doing so, as a student or PhD student, you learn to apply these techniques within current research projects that focus on understanding disease processes at the molecular level.”

Resume

Martin Giera studied pharmacy in Heidelberg and Munich and received his pharmacy degree in 2004. In 2005, he began his doctoral research at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. After a period as a postdoc and later assistant professor at the Free University Amsterdam, a research stay at Harvard Medical School followed.

Giera came to the LUMC in 2011, where he led the lipid biology and analysis group. Since 2016, he was head of the Metabolomics group and associate professor. In this role, he has continuously expanded and strengthened the group, focusing on translational metabolomics research and interdisciplinary collaboration.