Miriam Cnop (born 25 December 1970) is a Belgian researcher and physician specializing in

diabetology Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of the ...

. She is Professor of Medicine at

Université Libre de Bruxelles The (French language, French, ; lit. Free University of Brussels; abbreviated ULB) is a French-speaking research university in Brussels, Belgium. It has three campuses: the ''Solbosch'' campus (in the City of Brussels and Ixelles), the ''Plain ...

and Clinical Director of

Erasmus Hospital Erasmus Hospital (; ) is a teaching hospital in the municipality of Anderlecht, Brussels, Belgium. It is a research hospital associated with the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), and was opened in 1977. It has 1,048 beds and 4,000 employees ...

’s

Endocrinology Endocrinology (from ''endocrine system, endocrine'' + ''wikt:-logy#Suffix, -ology'') is a branch of biology and medicine dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases, and its specific secretions known as hormones. It is also concerned with the ...

Department. She leads the ULB Center For Diabetes Research. Her work centered on

type 2 diabetes Type 2 diabetes (T2D), formerly known as adult-onset diabetes, is a form of diabetes mellitus that is characterized by high blood sugar, insulin resistance, and relative lack of insulin. Common symptoms include increased thirst, frequent ...

, in particular mechanisms of

lipotoxicity Lipotoxicity is a metabolic syndrome that results from the accumulation of lipid intermediates in non-adipose tissue, leading to cellular dysfunction and death. The tissues normally affected include the kidneys, liver, heart and skeletal muscle. ...

using human

islets of Langerhans The pancreatic islets or islets of Langerhans are the regions of the pancreas that contain its endocrine (hormone-producing) cells, discovered in 1869 by German pathological anatomist Paul Langerhans. The pancreatic islets constitute 1–2% o ...

and human

induced pluripotent stem cell Induced pluripotent stem cells (also known as iPS cells or iPSCs) are a type of pluripotent stem cell that can be generated directly from a somatic cell. The iPSC technology was pioneered by Shinya Yamanaka and Kazutoshi Takahashi in Kyoto, Jap ...

-derived

β Cells Beta cells (β-cells) are specialized endocrine cells located within the pancreatic islets of Langerhans responsible for the production and release of insulin and amylin. Constituting ~50–70% of cells in human islets, beta cells play a v ...

. She is an associate member of the

Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium (, ), founded on 19 September 1841 by royal decree of King Leopold I, is an academy that brings together Belgian scientists. It is headquartered in Brussels at the Palace of Academies. History The Roya ...

. In 2013, her work was awarded the Oskar Minkowski prize from the

European Association for the Study of Diabetes The European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) is a scientific association founded in Montecatini Terme, Italy in 1965 with Joseph Hoet as Founding President. The aims of the association are to encourage and support research in the fie ...

Early life and education

Miriam Cnop was born in

Ixelles (French language, French, ) or (Dutch language, Dutch, ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located to the south-east of Pentagon (Brussels), Brusse ...

in 1970. Her father is mathematician, Ivan Cnop, who was a professor at the

Vrije Universiteit Brussel The Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Dutch language, Dutch, ; lit. Free University of Brussels; abbreviated VUB) is a Dutch- and English-speaking research university in Brussels, Belgium. It has four campuses: Brussels Humanities, Science and Engine ...

. She attended the Royal Athenaeum of

Tervuren Tervuren (; ) is a municipality in the province of Flemish Brabant, in the Flemish region of Belgium. The municipality comprises the villages of Duisburg, Tervuren proper, Vossem and Moorsel. On 1 January 2006, Tervuren had a total population o ...

for her

k-12 education K-1 is a professional kickboxing promotion established in 1993 by karateka Kazuyoshi Ishii. Originally under the ownership of the Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG), K-1 was considered to be the largest Kickboxing organization in the world. ...

. In 1988, she started studying medicine at

. She graduated

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

and

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the class rank, highest-performing student of a graduation, graduating class of an academic institution in the United States. The valedictorian is generally determined by an academic institution's grade poin ...

in 1995, realizing her graduate thesis on the effects of

lipids Lipids are a broad group of organic compounds which include fats, waxes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins (such as vitamins Vitamin A, A, Vitamin D, D, Vitamin E, E and Vitamin K, K), monoglycerides, diglycerides, phospholipids, and others. The fu ...

on pancreatic beta cells under the supervision of Pipeleers. She earned a PhD degree from the same institution in 2002. She was a post-doctoral fellow at

University of Washington, Seattle The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Unite ...

, under the supervision of Steven Kahn, on a scholarship from the

Belgian American Educational Foundation The Belgian American Educational Foundation (BAEF) is an educational charity. It supports the exchange of university students, scientists and scholars between the United States and Belgium. The foundation fosters the higher education of deserving ...

. She is board certified in

Internal Medicine Internal medicine, also known as general medicine in Commonwealth nations, is a medical specialty for medical doctors focused on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases in adults. Its namesake stems from "treatment of diseases of ...

and did her sub-specialization in

in 2003.

Career and research

Cnop's main research interest is pancreatic beta cell failure in type 2 diabetes and monogenic forms of diabetes. She contributed to show that lipotoxicity, the deleterious effect of

saturated fatty acids In chemistry, in particular in biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid with an aliphatic chain, which is either saturated or unsaturated. Most naturally occurring fatty acids have an unbranched chain of an even number of carbon atoms, f ...

, causes dysfunction and

apoptosis Apoptosis (from ) is a form of programmed cell death that occurs in multicellular organisms and in some eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms such as yeast. Biochemistry, Biochemical events lead to characteristic cell changes (Morphology (biol ...

of the beta cell. Her team demonstrated that the pancreas reaches its total capital of beta cells at age 20 years after which beta cells age with the body and may succumb to metabolic stress . The monogenic forms of diabetes under study in her group include diseases due to mutations in genes with a role in endoplasmic reticulum stress,

mitochondrial A mitochondrion () is an organelle found in the cells of most eukaryotes, such as animals, plants and fungi. Mitochondria have a double membrane structure and use aerobic respiration to generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is used ...

function and

tRNA Transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA), formerly referred to as soluble ribonucleic acid (sRNA), is an adaptor molecule composed of RNA, typically 76 to 90 nucleotides in length (in eukaryotes). In a cell, it provides the physical link between the gene ...

biology. Her team described the impact of TRMT10A deficiency in mammals, highlighting its role in the pathogenesis of

microcephaly Microcephaly (from Neo-Latin ''microcephalia'', from Ancient Greek μικρός ''mikrós'' "small" and κεφαλή ''kephalé'' "head") is a medical condition involving a smaller-than-normal head. Microcephaly may be present at birth or it m ...

and early onset diabetes. She was the first to show

incretin Incretins are a group of metabolic hormones that decrease Blood sugar level, blood glucose levels. Incretins are released after eating and augment the secretion of insulin released from Pancreas, pancreatic beta cells of the islets of Langerhans ...

deficiency in a specific type of diabetes caused by RFX6 gene mutations. These monogenic forms may further our understanding of the complex processes leading to type 2 diabetes. She studied the association between

Friedreich’s ataxia Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA) is a rare, inherited, autosomal recessive neurodegenerative disorder that primarily affects the nervous system, causing progressive damage to the spinal cord, peripheral nerves, and cerebellum, leading to impaired ...

and diabetes in collaboration with other researchers from Université Libre de Bruxelles. While it was hitherto believed that this form of diabetes is due to

insulin resistance Insulin resistance (IR) is a pathological response in which cells in insulin-sensitive tissues in the body fail to respond normally to the hormone insulin or downregulate insulin receptors in response to hyperinsulinemia. Insulin is a horm ...

, they showed that beta cell dysfunction and death are central to the pathogenesis of diabetes for patients presenting with this hereditary condition. Her lab is among the few to differentiate

induced pluripotent stem cells Induced pluripotent stem cells (also known as iPS cells or iPSCs) are a type of pluripotent stem cell that can be generated directly from a somatic cell. The iPSC technology was pioneered by Shinya Yamanaka and Kazutoshi Takahashi in Kyoto, J ...

from diabetic patients into pancreatic

islet cells The pancreatic islets or islets of Langerhans are the regions of the pancreas that contain its endocrine (hormone-producing) cells, discovered in 1869 by German pathological anatomist Paul Langerhans. The pancreatic islets constitute 1–2% of ...

, in collaboration with Timo Otonkoski,

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

. This novel technology provides a unique opportunity to gain insight into the pathways leading to beta cell failure in diabetes and to test novel therapies. She participates in two

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

Innovative Medicines Initiatives, INNODIA and Rhapsody, on type 1 and type 2 diabetes. She also coordinates the

European Union Horizon 2020 The Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development, also called Framework Programmes or abbreviated FP1 to FP9, are funding programmes created by the European Union/European Commission to support and foster research in the Europe ...

project T2DSystems that aims to develop a systems biomedicine approach for risk identification, prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes.

Awards and recognitions

* “Rising Star” of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, 2005 * GB Morgagni Young Investigator Award, 2010 * Oskar Minkowski Prize of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, 2013 * Auguste Loubatières Prize of the French Diabetes Society, 2014

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cnop, Miriam 1970 births Living people Belgian women physicians 21st-century Belgian women 20th-century Belgian women Vrije Universiteit Brussel alumni Belgian physicians Diabetologists People from Ixelles Minkowski Prize recipients Academic staff of the Université libre de Bruxelles