2024 was an eventful and successful year at the Exercise Biology. A significant milestone is and was the DFG funding application for the HyperMet research group, for which we received approval from the DFG in September 2024. It will be a project that will accompany us for the next four to eight years and shape the research work of Exercise Biology and all cooperation partners.
We are also delighted that our doctoral students Marius Meinhold and Melanie Menter (Knopp) have successfully completed their PhDs. Over the past few years, Marius had focussed on the function of the hippo effector YAP in the muscle disease Duchenne.
Due to her employment at a well-known sports shoe manufacturer, Melanie has been working on optimising endurance performance. Her main focus was improving the running economy of new types of running shoes and the systematisation of marathon training. Both, Marius and Melanie, have also successfully published their scientific findings. We wish them both every success in their future careers.
Marius and Melanie were succeeded by three new doctoral students last year and at the turn of 2023/24 to work on new projects. Xianyu Song focuses on taurine's function in glucose metabolism in fat and muscle cells. The main focus here is on the modulation of glucose uptake into the cells. Lara Becker has also taken up the cause of taurine's function and is conducting the TauAge clinical study in cooperation with Prof Hauner's team. As part of this study, we are investigating the long-term effects of taurine in older people with regard to physical performance, health and ageing. Last but not least, David Pena Camargo has also joined our team. As part of a business cooperation, he is investigating the use of micro-sensor technology in the auditory canal to determine vital parameters and energy consumption in sports.
Lastly, we would like to thank all students who have successfully completed their scientific theses at the Exercise Biology Department and wish them every success in their future scientific careers.
The Exercise Biology team would also like to thank all partners and colleagues for the successful year 2024 and wish everyone a healthy new year.