Biography
Kristina Schoonjans is Professor in the Institute of Bioengineering at the Ecole
Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. She received a PhD from
the University of Lille in France. After her postdoctoral training she joined the Institute
of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology in Strasbourg as an INSERM
Researcher with a focus on metabolism. She contributed in a significant fashion to
identify the molecular pathways by which enterohepatic nuclear receptors and
membrane receptors control metabolic homeostasis. Most importantly she identified
the bile acid responsive membrane receptor TGR5 as a non-genomic pathway by
which bile acids act as endocrine regulators of energy expenditure, glucose
metabolism and inflammation, for which she was awarded with the Adolf Windaus
prize in 2010. Prof. Schoonjans is a member of the editorial board of several scientific
journals.