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Principal Investigator

Alexander Tups 186x228Associate Professor Alexander Tups

Associate Professor Alexander Tups' biography
Email alexander.tups@otago.ac.nz
Tel +64 3 479 4862
Fax +64 3 479 7323
Department of Physiology website

Research interests

The focus of our research at the Centre for Neuroendocrinology is on the neuroendocrine regulation of metabolism. In particular we are interested in the central interaction of the adiposity hormones leptin and insulin, which appears crucial for the maintenance of energy and glucose homeostasis. We established that a loss of central leptin action during obesity leads to impaired insulin action, which might explain the striking correlation of obesity and type 2 diabetes.

We investigate neuroendocrine mechanisms that link obesity, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease.

We focus on manipulating these crucial pathways via nutritive, genetherapeutic and pharmacological approaches to potentially avoid the manifestation of nutrition related diseases.

Clinical conditions

  • Obesity
  • Type 2 diabetes
  • Alzheimer's disease
  • Bipolar disorder
  • Cancer

List of publications for Alexander Tups (Google Scholar)

Tups Laboratory staff & students

Aline Boer_webAline Boer, Research Fellow
Glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide: an incretin at the interface of neuroendocrine regulation of metabolism and nutrition.
Email: aline.boer@otaog.ac.nz

Pramuk Keerthisinghe_webPramuk Keerthisinghe, Postdoctoral Fellow
Email: pramuk.keerthisinghe@otago.ac.nz

Raheel Hussain, PgDipSci student

Visit Our people for an alphabetical list of all Centre for Neuroendocrinology staff.

Research Funders

Publications

Sequeira-Bisson, I. R., Lu, L. W., Silvestre, M. P., Plank, L. D., Middleditch, N., Acevedo-Fani, A., Parry-Strong, A., … Tups, A., … Krebs, J. D., … Poppitt, S. D. (2024). Glycaemic response to a nut-enriched diet in Asian Chinese adults with normal or high glycaemia: The Tū Ora RCT. Nutrients, 16(13), 2103. doi: 10.3390/nu16132103 Journal - Research Article

Rizwan, M. Z., Kamstra, K., Pretz, D., Shepherd, P. R., Tups, A., & Grattan, D. R. (2024). Conditional deletion of β-catenin in the mediobasal hypothalamus impairs adaptive energy expenditure in response to high fat diet and exacerbates diet-induced obesity. Journal of Neuroscience. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1523/jneurosci.1666-23.2024 Journal - Research Article

Tups, A. (2023, August). The exciting journey to create a natural product for glucose support. Keynote presentation at the Brain Health Research Centre (BHRC) Annual Conference, Dunedin, New Zealand. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

Pretz, D., Heyward, P. M., Krebs, J., Gruchot, J., Barter, C., Silcock, P., Downes, N., Rizwan, M. Z., Boucsein, A., Bender, J., Burgess, E. J., Boer, G. A., Perry, N. B., & Tups, A. (2023, August-September). A dahlia flower extract has anti-diabetic properties by improving insulin function in the brain. Verbal presentation at the Queenstown Molecular Biology (QMB) Hypothalamic Neuroscience & Neuroendocrinology Australasia (HNNA) Satellite, Queenstown, New Zealand. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

Pretz, D., Heyward, P. M., Krebs, J., Gruchot, J., Barter, C., Silcock, P., Downes, N., Rizwan, M. Z., Boucsein, A., … Boer, G. A., Perry, N. B., & Tups, A. (2023, August). From mechanistic biomedical research on hypothalamic inflammation to a dietary supplement for glucose support. Verbal presentation at the 17th New Zealand Medical Sciences Congress (MedSci), Queenstown, New Zealand. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

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