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Alexander Pfeifer
© J. Saba
Prof. Dr. Alexander Pfeifer

Website

Affiliations
  • Institut für Pharmakologie und Toxikologie
Research topics
  • cGMP signaling
  • G-protein-coupled receptors
  • metabolism
  • obesity
Our main research focus lies on signaling pathways and how they can be manipulated with pharmacological tools and drugs to treat diseases. We investigate mainly the cGMP pathway and G protein coupled receptors in metabolically relevant tissues (adipose tissue and muscle), vessels and in immune cells. We also develop therapeutic approaches using nanoparticles and viral vectors, A major focus of our work is energy homeostasis and obesity. Obesity is a global health problem and is linked with cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes and cancer. Obesity is caused by an imbalance of energy consumption and dissipation. We are especially interested in mechanisms of energy expenditure and how they can be used to treat metabolic diseases. , We apply state-of-the-art technologies including genetic tools like lentiviral vectors and transgenic mouse models and in vivo measurements especially of metabolism e.g using metabolic cages.
Selected publications

Niemann B, Haufs-Brusberg S, Puetz L, Feickert M, Jaeckstein MY, Hoffmann A, Zurkovic J, Heine M, Trautmann EM, Müller CE, Tönjes A, Schlein C, Jafari A, Eltzschig HK, Gnad T, Blüher M, Krahmer N, Kovacs P, Heeren J, Pfeifer A. Apoptotic brown adipocytes enhance energy expenditure via extracellular inosine. Nature. 2022; doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-05041-0. Online ahead of print. PMID: 357901892.

Hildebrand S, Löwa N, Paysen H, Fratila RM, Reverte-Salisa L, Trakoolwilaiwan T, Niu Z, Kasparis G, Preuss SF, Kosch O, M de la Fuente J, Thanh NTK, Wiekhorst F, Pfeifer A. Quantification of Lipoprotein Uptake in Vivo Using Magnetic Particle Imaging and Spectroscopy. ACS Nano. 2021;15(1):434-446.

Gnad T, Navarro G, Lahesmaa M, Reverte-Salisa L, Copperi F, Cordomi A, Naumann J, Hochhäuser A, Haufs-Brusberg S, Wenzel D, Suhr F, Jespersen NZ, Scheele C, Tsvilovskyy V, Brinkmann C, Rittweger J, Dani C, Kranz M, Deuther-Conrad W, Eltzschig HK, Niemi T, Taittonen M, Brust P, Nuutila P, Pardo L, Fleischmann BK, Blüher M, Franco R, Bloch W, Virtanen KA, Pfeifer A. Adenosine/A2B Receptor Signaling Ameliorates the Effects of Aging and Counteracts Obesity. Cell Metab. 2020;32(1):56-70.e7.

Sanyal A, Naumann J, Hoffmann LS, Chabowska-Kita A, Ehrlund A, Schlitzer A, Arner P, Blüher M, Pfeifer A. Interplay between obesity-induced inflammation and cGMP signaling in white adipose tissue. Cell Rep. 2017;18(1):225-236.

Alexander Pfeifer
© J. Saba
Prof. Dr. Alexander Pfeifer

Website

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