Eureka! The Top Endocrine Science of 2024 - Part III

For the tenth year running, Endocrine News talks to editors from Endocrine Society publications to unearth the most impressive breakthroughs in endocrine science and research for 2024. This year, we also talk to some of the “scientists behind the science” to get their insights on their cutting-edge research. In Part III, the editors from The Journal of the Endocrine Society give us their picks for this year’s top discoveries.

For JES Editor-in-Chief Zeynep Madak-Erdogen, PhD, associate professor of nutrition; Sylvia D. Stroup Scholar at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, chose two papers from JES due to their frequency of access. “SHBG, Free Testosterone, and Type 2 Diabetes Risk in Middle-aged African Men: A Longitudinal Study,” by Seipone I.D., et al. published in August.

“Fundamental Body Composition Principles Provide Context for Fat-free and Skeletal Muscle Loss with GLP-1 RA Treatments,” by Tinsley G.M. and Heymsfield S., published in November.

More from Journal of the Endocrine Society Editors

Associate editor Bruno Ferraz-de-Souza, MD, PhD, associate professor and chair of the Basic & Clinical Sciences Domain at the University of Notre Dame Australia School of Medicine in Fremantle, Western Australia, and also honorary principal investigator and postgraduate supervisor in Endocrinology at the University of Sao Paulo School of Medicine, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, gives nod number two to “A maternal brain hormone that builds bone” from the Ingraham Lab and published in the July issue of Nature, saying it was his “absolute favorite” of the year.

“It’s not every day that a whole new mechanism is uncovered linking unexpected biological systems, so I am in awe of their diligence leading to this discovery, that may have a lot of translational consequences in years to come,” he says.

The Scientist Behind the Science:

“Fundamental Body Composition Principles Provide Context for Fat-free and Skeletal Muscle Loss with GLP-1 RA Treatments,” lead author, Grant M. Tinsley, PhD, Energy Balance & Body Composition Laboratory, Department of Kinesiology & Sport Management, Texas Tech University, in Lubbock, says, “Body composition can be conceptualized in several different ways, and it is important to understand which of these ways is being used when interpreting results of body composition testing. As a contemporary example, a loss in total body fat-free mass for a patient on GLP-1RA treatment is sometimes directly interpreted as a loss of functional skeletal muscle tissue. In reality, there is some molecular overlap between fat-free mass and skeletal muscle, but they are different conceptual entities with very different quantities in the human body. Relatedly, it should be remembered that notable weight loss can lead to obligatory loss of fat-free or ‘lean’ mass that is not necessarily from skeletal muscle but could arise from other non-fat sources in the body. Finally, the importance of countermeasures to maintain skeletal muscle, such as exercise training and dietary modification, should be emphasized when working with patients.”

Eureka! The Top Endocrine Science of 2024 – Part III

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