Rudolph Leibel facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Rudolph Leibel
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Rudolph Leibel, 2012
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| Born | 1942 (age 82–83) |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Alma mater | Colgate University, Albert Einstein College of Medicine |
| Known for | Co-Discovery of Leptin, Advancing the Understanding of Obesity |
| Spouse(s) | Lulu Leibel |
| Awards | National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine Member; TOPS Scientific Achievement Award; NIH/HHS Intragency Committee on Human Nutrition Research; New York State Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR) Distinguished Professor; Albert Einstein College of Medicine Distinguished Alumnus Award; Berthold Medal of the European Society of Endocrinology, Federation Award for Biomedical Research of the Federation of Medical Scientific Societies of the Netherlands, Leiden University; National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Federal Advisory Council Member; The Christopher J. Murphy Professorship of Diabetes Research at Columbia University; Honoris Causa Doctorate, Louisiana State University |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Molecular Genetics, Obesity, Diabetes Mellitus, Pediatrics |
| Institutions | Boston Children's Hospital, Cambridge Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, Rockefeller University, Columbia University |
Rudolph Leibel (born 1942) is a well-known American scientist. He is a professor at Columbia University Medical Center. He works in the fields of pediatrics and medicine. He also directs the Division of Molecular Genetics in the Department of Pediatrics.
Dr. Leibel helped discover the hormone called leptin. He also helped find the genes for leptin and its leptin receptor. This work was very important for understanding human obesity. He has written many scientific papers about obesity and leptin.
Contents
Discovering the "Obesity Gene": Leptin
As a doctor in the 1970s, Dr. Leibel saw many children with obesity. He believed that biology, not just "willpower," played a big role. He thought that body weight was a mix of genes and the environment.
In 1978, he joined Jules Hirsch at Rockefeller University. Their goal was to find what controlled eating. Dr. Leibel worked with Douglas Coleman. They found that a gene change in mice caused them to not make a signal that says "I'm full." Another gene change meant mice couldn't sense this signal.
Dr. Leibel and Dr. Hirsch started many studies. They wanted to see how genes and obesity were connected. Dr. Leibel's work helped understand how the body stores fat. He realized that studying genes was key to finding the "obesity gene."
In 1986, Dr. Leibel teamed up with Jeffrey Friedman. They put together a research group. They got money from the National Institutes of Health. This allowed them to use new methods in their research.
Their team published several papers. These papers showed how they were mapping the ob gene. One paper was in 1990, about genetics and nutrition in obesity. Another paper in 1990 was about mapping the mouse db gene.
Dr. Leibel continued to write and co-write many papers. In 1993, he was the main author of a paper on understanding obesity in humans. In 1994, Dr. Friedman published a paper that found and isolated the ob gene. Dr. Leibel was recognized in the paper for his important early work.
Dr. Leibel kept researching the link between genes and obesity. In 1997, he published a paper called "And Finally, Genes for Human Obesity." Later, Dr. Leibel and others moved their research to Columbia University. There, Dr. Leibel became the head of Molecular Genetics.
Life and Education
Rudolph Leibel earned his first degree from Colgate University in 1963. He then got his medical degree (MD) in 1967 from Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
He worked as a doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital from 1967 to 1969. After that, he served in the United States Army Medical Corps from 1969 to 1971.
Medical Training and Career
After his military service, Dr. Leibel continued his medical training. He was a Senior Resident at Boston Children's Hospital. From 1972 to 1974, he was a research fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital.
He also worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Then, he joined Rockefeller University in 1978. He finished his training as an Established Investigator with the American Heart Association.
Scientific Achievements
Dr. Leibel has made huge contributions to obesity research. He has especially helped understand childhood obesity. His work was featured in a 2005 book called Fed Up!: Winning the War Against Childhood Obesity.
He has written or co-written over 300 scientific papers. These papers have been used as sources by other scientists thousands of times. He also helps edit important scientific journals. He has received many awards for his pioneering medical research.
In 1998, Dr. Leibel was chosen as a member of the Institute of Medicine. This is part of the National Academy of Sciences. He also advises the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). His research gets funding from many groups. These include the National Institutes of Health and the American Diabetes Association.
Dr. Leibel is also involved in a program called the Type 1 Diabetes Research Consortium. This group works to understand type 1 diabetes and find new treatments. He is also the chairman for the Pollin Prize for Pediatric Research.
What Dr. Leibel Studies
Dr. Leibel's early research looked at how fat cells work. He was one of the first to describe differences in fat tissue in different body parts. He also studied how these differences might explain why fat is stored differently in men and women.
He helped develop a way to measure fat storage in human fat tissue. This helped scientists understand how fats move in the body.
After helping discover the leptin gene in 1994, Dr. Leibel continued his work. He helped confirm the discovery of the leptin receptor. This receptor is like a lock that leptin fits into, allowing the body to sense the "full" signal.
Today, Dr. Leibel's lab at Columbia University focuses on the genetics of obesity. They also study diabetes mellitus type 2, which is often linked to obesity. His team works to find more genes that affect body weight. They also look for genes that increase the risk of type 2 diabetes when someone is obese.
In the News
Dr. Leibel was a key expert in the HBO series The Weight of the Nation in 2012. He has also appeared on TV shows like Charlie Rose. He is often mentioned in popular news articles.
Awards and Honors
Dr. Leibel has received many awards for his work:
- Phi Beta Kappa
- Alpha Omega Alpha
- Austen-Colgate Scholar
- NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship
- Rockefeller Scholar in Clinical Science
- Established Investigator, American Heart Association
- Eliot Hochstein Award for excellence in teaching, Cornell University Medical College
- Senior List for excellence in teaching, Cornell University Medical College
- TOPS Scientific Achievement Award (NAASO - 1996)
- NIH/HHS Intragency Committee on Human Nutrition Research (1997)
- Member, Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences
- New York State Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR) Distinguished Professor (2002)
- Distinguished Alumnus Award, Albert Einstein College of Medicine (2005)
- Berthold Medal of the European Society of Endocrinology (2008)
- Federation Award for Biomedical Research of the Federation of Medical Scientific Societies of the Netherlands, Leiden University. (2008)
- Member, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Federal Advisory Council
- The Christopher J. Murphy Professorship of Diabetes Research (2011)
- Louisiana State University/Pennington Biomedical Research Honoris Causa Doctorate (2012)
Images for kids
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Rudolph Leibel, 2012
See also
In Spanish: Rudolph Leibel para niños
