Contact Details:

m.korbonits@qmul.ac.uk

Márta Korbonits graduated in medicine in Budapest and worked in the Institute of Pathophysiology before starting her clinical training at the Internal Medicine Department of the Postgraduate Medical School, Budapest. She joined the Department of Endocrinology at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London in 1991 and started clinical and laboratory studies about the hypothalamic regulation of growth hormone release under the guidence of Prof. Ashley Grossman and Prof. Michael Besser and became particularly interested in growth hormone secretagogues. This work formed the basis of her University of London MD thesis. Subsequently she studied pituitary tumorigenesis for her PhD thesis. She received an MRC Clinician Scientist Fellowship in 2000 to study ghrelin physiology and genetics and turned her attention to appetite physiology and metabolism. She received funding from the MRC, Wellcome Trust, Diabetes UK, Royal Society, The Jules Thorn Foundation, as well as local funds from the CRC, JRB & RAB. She has supervised visiting fellows, PhD, MD and BmedSci students and enjoys undrgraduate teaching. She has received numerous prizes, most recently the Young Investigator Award of the Pituitary Society, and was awarded a Personal Chair as Professor of Endocrinology and Metabolism in 2008. She is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, the Journal of Neuroendocrinology and the Journal of Endocrinology. She is the Program Secretary of the Society for Endocrinology 2009-2012 and serves as a member of the Board of the Pituitary Society and is an elected member of the Association of Physicians of Great Britain and Ireland. She serves as a referee for several grant-giving bodies and journals.

Current research interests

Prof Korbonits is studying pituitary tumorigenesis for a number of years. Most recently she is working on causes of familial pituitary adenomas. Her team has set up a website for patients with familial isolated pituitary adenomas (FIPA):
www.fipapatients.org.

• With the help of national and international collaboration (See International FIPA consortium) she has collected a large cohort of familial pituitary adenoma families. Anybody interested to include patients to this ongoing study, please contact Prof Korbonits.  One of the genes causing FIPA is the AIP gene and her laboratory studies the genetic and functional basis of the alterations in the AIP gene.
  
  
• Prof Korbonits is also interested in the hormonal regulation of the cellular energy sensor AMP-dependent protein kinase (AMPK) in particularly regarding various appetie and metabolic hormones and compounds such as ghrelin, cannabinoids, glucocorticoids and orexin.

Key publications

• H. S. Chahal, K. Stals, M. Unterlander, D. J. Balding, M. G. Thomas, A. V. Kumar, G. M. Besser, A. B. Atkinson, P. J. Morrison, T. A. Howlett, M. J. Levy, S. M. Orme, S. A. Akker, R. L. Abel, A. B. Grossman, J. Burger, S. Ellard, and M. Korbonits. AIP mutation in pituitary adenomas in the 18th century and today. NewEngland Journal of Medicine 2011;364 (1):43-50.

• S. Igreja, H. S. Chahal, P. King, G. B. Bolger, U. Srirangalingam, L. Guasti, J. P. Chapple, G. Trivellin, M. Gueorguiev, K. Guegan, K. Stals, B. Khoo, A. V. Kumar, S. Ellard, A. B. Grossman, and M. Korbonits. Characterization of aryl hydrocarbon receptor interacting protein (AIP) mutations in familial isolated pituitary adenoma families. Human Mutation  2010;31:950-960.

• M. Gueorguiev, C. Lecoeur, M. Benzinou, C. A. Mein, D. Meyre, V. Vatin, J. Weill, B. Heude, A. B. Grossman, P. Froguel, and M. Korbonits. A genetic study of the ghrelin and growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHSR) genes and stature. Ann.Hum.Genet. 73 (Pt 1):1-9, 2009.

• S. Igreja, H. S. Chahal, S. A. Akker, M. Gueorguiev, V. Popovic, S. Damjanovic, P. Burman, J. A. Wass, R. Quinton, A. B. Grossman, and M. Korbonits. Assessment of p27 (cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1B) and aryl hydrocarbon receptor-interacting protein (AIP) genes in multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN1) syndrome patients without any detectable MEN1 gene mutations. Clin.Endocrinol.(Oxf) 70 (2):259-264, 2009.

• B. Kola and M. Korbonits. Shedding light on the intricate puzzle of ghrelin's effects on appetite regulation. J.Endocrinol. 202:1-9, 2009.

• Christ-Crain,M., Kola,B., Lolli,F., Fekete,C., Seboek, D.,Wittmann,G.,Feltrin,D., Igreja,S.C., Ajodha,S., Harvey-White,J., Kunos,G., Muller,B., Pralong,F., Aubert,G., Arnaldi,G., Giacchetti,G., Boscaro,M., Grossman,A.B., & Korbonits,M. AMP-activated protein kinase mediates glucocorticoid-induced metabolic changes: a novel mechanism in Cushing's syndrome. FASEB Journal 2008;22:1672-1683.
  

• Garcia,E.A., Heude,B., Petry,C.J., Gueorguiev,M., Hassan-Smith,Z.K.,Spanou,A.,Ring,S.M., Dunger,D.B., Wareham,N., Sandhu,M., Ong,K.K., & Korbonits,M. Ghrelin receptor gene polymorphisms and body size in children and adults. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 2008;doi:10.1210/jc.2008-0366.
  
  
  
• Kola,B., Farkas,I., Christ-Crain,M., Wittmann,G., Lolli,F., Amin,F., Harvey-White,J., Liposits,Z., Kunos,G., Grossman,A.B., Fekete,C., & Korbonits,M.
  The orexigenic effect of ghrelin is mediated through central activation of the endogenous cannabinoid system.
  PloS One 2008;3:e1797.
  
  
• Kola,B., Christ-Crain,M., Lolli,F., Fekete,C., Seboek,D., Wittmann,G., Feltrin,D., Igreja,S.C., Ajodha,S., Harvey-White,J., Kunos,G., Muller,B., Pralong,F., Aubert,G., Arnaldi,G., Giacchetti,G., Boscaro,M., Grossman,A.B., & Korbonits,M.
  Changes in AMP-activated protein kinase: A novel mechanism to explain visceral obesity in Cushing's syndrome. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 2008;93:4969-4673.
  
  
  
• Leontiou,C.A., Gueorguiev,M., van der,S.J., uinton,R., Lolli,F., Hassan,S., Chahal,H.S., Igreja,S.C., Jordan,S., Rowe,J., Stolbrink,M., Christian,H.C., Wray,J., Bishop-Bailey,D., Berney,D.M., Wass,J.A., Popovic,V., Ribeiro-Oliveira,A., Jr., Gadelha,M.R., Monson,J.P., Akker,S.A., Davis,J.R., Clayton,R.N., Yoshimoto,K., Iwata,T., Matsuno,A., Eguchi,K., Musat,M., Flanagan,D., Peters,G., Bolger,G.B., Chapple,J.P., Frohman,L.A., Grossman,A.B., & Korbonits,M. The role of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor-interacting protein gene in familial and sporadic pituitary adenomas. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 2008;93:2390-2401.

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