Endocrine Society member Matthias Tschöp, MD, has been awarded the 2026 Rolf Luft Award for outstanding groundbreaking scientific contributions to fields of diabetes and obesity basic research leading to important clinical implications. He shares the award with Richard Dennis DiMarchi from Indiana University in Bloomington.
Tschöp, president of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU), is an internationally renowned physician and medical researcher who previously led Helmholtz Munich and was vice president of the Helmholtz Association for Health Research.
The duo were recognized for advances in peptide chemistry and the development of novel duel and triple agonists for the treatment of diabetes and obesity.
Several versions of these so-called gut hormone poly-agonists have advanced through clinical trials. One class representative, with the same active peptide ingredient named tirzepatide advanced by Eli Lilly, has already been FDA approved for treating type 2 diabetes in 2022 as Mounjaro and obesity in 2023 as Zepbound.
Treatment of obese patients with tirzepatide decreased patients’ body weight more than 20%, an excess weight where obesity is typically defined. This level of weight lowering had previously only been possible with gastric bypass surgery. The discovery and validation of these highly efficient drugs for obesity, by DiMarchi and Tschöp have accomplished a transformative breakthrough, which provides a path for reversing the obesity pandemic. Additionally, it has set a direction in drug discovery for complex diseases when there is no effective therapy and more than one integrated mechanism in action might prove equally effective as demonstrated in obesity.
Tschop also received the Endocrine Society’s 2017 Outstanding Innovation Laureate Award.
As a postdoctoral fellow, Tschöp reported on the orexigenic, adipogenic, and metabolic effects of ghrelin (Nature, 2000, >3500 citations). This groundbreaking discovery added a fundamental pathway to the model of body weight and glucose control, and established a novel set of drug targets (Nature Medicine, 2009; Science, 2010). He also was the first to report that ghrelin levels are regulated by both food intake and body weight (Diabetes, 2001; J Endocrinol Invest, 2001). He went on to collaborate with the chemist Richard DiMarchi to co-discover a paradigm shifting series of gut hormone-derived unimolecular poly-agonists that target several neuroendocrine receptors, reduce body weight and improve glucose tolerance with unprecedented efficacy (Nature Chemical Biology, 2009; Science Translational Medicine, 2013, Nature Medicine, 2015).
Tschöp’s innovative breakthroughs also encompass novel strategies for tissue-specific delivery of small molecules using peptide shuttles thereby more efficiently targeting pathological processes while minimizing toxic effects (Nature Medicine, 2012; Cell, 2016). In addition to more than 300 peer-reviewed publications, and numerous scientific awards (including Outstanding Scientific Achievement Awards of The Obesity Society 2009 and the American Diabetes Society 2011).
Rolf Luft Foundation for Diabetes Research and Karolinska Institutet are awarded annually in memory of Rolf Luft. Awardees will receive the Rolf Luft Medal, a diploma, an honorarium, and deliver a lecture on their research in September 2026.
Loading ...