Haaglim Cho
Senior and Principal Research Scientist/Pharmacology Dept. · Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (MPG)
Biography
Dr. Cho’s recent research found that increased adrenomedullin in obese humans and mice inhibits insulin signaling at insulin receptors on human vascular endothelial cells via PTP1B-mediated dephosphorylation (Science, 2025). Notably, obese mice lacking adrenomedullin receptors on endothelial cells showed improved insulin-induced endothelial nitric oxide synthase activation and skeletal muscle perfusion. Treating lean mice with adrenomedullin mimicked the insulin resistance seen in obesity, confirming that systemic insulin resistance is induced through endothelial adrenomedullin receptors. Dr. Cho further demonstrated that ablation or blockade of these receptors ameliorates obesity-induced insulin resistance. This groundbreaking work sheds new light on the mechanisms of systemic insulin resistance and opens promising avenues for treating obesity-associated type 2 diabetes.
Education
Dr. Haaglim Cho studied medicine and molecular biology at KNU (Korea) and earned a master’s degree in molecular genetics. He pursued his PhD at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) under Prof. Darren Reece Williams, where he developed ENOblock, a small-molecule inhibitor targeting metabolic disease pathways. He also uncovered how cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) promote an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, proposing a dual IL-6 and GM-CSF blockade as an anti-metastatic strategy. In 2019, Dr. Cho received the prestigious Humboldt Research Fellowship and joined th...
Links
- Scopus https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=None