Roberto Coppari is Full Professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Geneva in Switzerland. In 2015 he founded and ever since has been directing the Faculty Diabetes Center. He is also the Academic Director of the Metabolic Core facility of the Faculty of Medicine (since 2017). Prof. Coppari received a PhD in Neuroscience in 2002 and performed his training at Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA, USA. His independent career started in 2007 when he was appointed Assistant Professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, TX, USA where he worked until the end of 2012. His research was and/or has been funded by several agencies as for example the European Research Council (e.g. ERC consolidator, ERC Proof of Concept grants), the USA National Institutes of Health (e.g. RO1 grants), the Swiss Cancer League, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and the Swiss National Science Foundation. Prof. Coppari has organized several national and international meetings, is a member of the Direction Committee of the Lausanne Integrative Metabolism and Nutrition Alliance and of the Dean Advisory Board at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Switzerland. He is an elected member of the National Research Council of the Swiss National Science Foundation.

The goal of the Coppari laboratory is the understanding of whole-body physiological and metabolic function with the ambition of applying this knowledge to human health and disease (e.g. obesity, diabetes, cancer). To achieve this goal, the laboratory performs different physiological in vivo studies (mostly in rodents) and experiments with murine and human cell lines. To further test the hypothesis and gain mechanistic insights, the laboratory uses unbiased approaches as for example metabolomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and ribosome profiling. The results of these studies led to significant contributions to the field of physiology, cancer and metabolism. For example, the Coppari laboratory unravelled new putative targets for treatment of metabolic and cancerous diseases (e.g. FKBP10, PTPRg, S100A9) and is currently developing strategies to transfer these discoveries from the laboratory to the clinic.

Research aims
The Coppari laboratory investigates brain-driven mechanisms that would permit life without insulin. These mechanisms may represent new therapeutic targets for improving diabetes mellitus type 1 (T1DM) and type 2 (T2DM)
Identifying neuron-types and molecules underlying normal metabolic homeostasis;
 Identifying neuron-types and molecules protecting against diet-induced metabolic imbalance;
 Identifying neuron-types and molecules permitting life without insulin;
Exploiting effect of dietary interventions to unveil cancer vulnerabilities.

Expertise
Generation of genetically-engineered mice bearing neuron-type-restricted mutations;
 Metabolic assessments, including glucose/insulin clamp in unrestrained and awake rodents;
Dietary interventions affecting cancer biology in rodents.

More information on Prof. Coppari's reserach and recent publications on his group website.