Biography
Emmanuel Van Obberghen received his MD (1971) and his PhD (1975) at the Free University of Brussels, Belgium. From 1975 to 1980 he was a visiting research associate in the Diabetes Branch of the NIADDK, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, USA. In 1980 he moved to the Medical School of Nice, France where he has been directing an INSERM research laboratory since then. In 1995, he became Professor and Chairman of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Medical School of Nice, and Chief of Clinical Chemistry of the University Hospitals of Nice. He is currently Vice-President of Research of the Board of Directors, and President of the Committee of Biomedical Research and Public Health of the University Hospitals of Nice. He has served and serves on numerous national and international scientific committees in the field of diabetes and endocrinology, and on several editorial boards of key scientific journals. For several years his research has focused on the mechanisms of insulin action and mechanisms underlying insulin resistance in diabetes. In this context an important contribution has revealed the existence of a vicious circle between defects in insulin signaling on one hand and diabetes and its complications on the other. His most recent work focuses on the role of microRNAs as regulators of insulin secretion and action. The seminal contributions of Emmanuel Van Obberghen have been recognized by major international awards including the Silver and Gold Morgagni Medal , and the Minkowski and Claude Bernard Award of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes. ragraphe