Aurelio Teleman Is EMBO Young Investigator

Now in the eleventh year of the program, the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) has once again selected the 21 most promising young researchers throughout Europe. Among this year’s recipients is Dr. Aurelio Teleman, who heads the Helmholtz Junior Research Group “Signal Transduction in Cancer and Metabolism” at the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ). The distinction as an EMBO Young Investigator is sought by young researchers, because recipients gain both academic and financial support to help them develop their life science career.

Thus, EMBO Young Investigators receive 15,000 euros per year over the course of three years and are invited to management training courses and events where they can make important international contacts.

Aurelio Teleman at DKFZ investigates how cells use protein networks, called signaling cascades, to adapt to changing environmental conditions. His research focuses on signaling pathways that control cell growth and metabolism. Since a large portion of metabolic energy is needed for cell growth, these two processes need to happen in a coordinated way. From a medical point of view, these signaling pathways are extremely relevant, because errors in these pathways can lead to cancer or metabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes. Thus, in about 80 percent of all human cancers the activity of the insulin signaling pathway is significantly increased.

Since the above mentioned signaling pathways control basic cellular processes, both the molecular components and the physiological effects are very similar from fruit fly through to man. Therefore, Teleman uses Drosophila as a study object and utilizes the many genetic tools that are available for this organism. Using genetically manipulated flies, Teleman and his team are investigating how development of the animals changes in response to interfering with the relevant signaling pathways. The results are expected to help us gain a better understanding of metabolic diseases.