Professor Choi Hyung-jin of Seoul National University, who identified the exact mechanism by which obesity treatment drugs suppress appetite, was selected as the Scientist of the Month for January 2025.
The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Research Foundation noted on the 1st that Professor Choi was selected as the recipient of the Scientist of the Month award for January. The 'Scientist of the Month' award recognizes one researcher each month for their outstanding research and development contributions to the advancement of science and technology, awarding them with a Minister's award and a prize of 10 million won.
Professor Choi was recognized for his contribution to understanding how glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) suppresses appetite, significantly aiding the improvement of obesity and metabolic diseases. GLP-1 is a hormone secreted from the intestines after meals that promotes insulin secretion and suppresses appetite. The GLP-1-based therapeutic analogs received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a diabetes treatment in 2005 and as an obesity treatment in 2014.
Recently, GLP-1-based obesity treatments have gained popularity worldwide for their strong weight-loss effects alongside improvements in cardiovascular disease. However, until now, it was not clearly understood how GLP-1 acted in the brain to suppress appetite.
Professor Choi identified that GLP-1 acts on the hypothalamus of the brain to induce a feeling of fullness and suppress appetite merely by recognizing food. An analysis of the distribution of GLP-1 receptors in human brain tissue revealed high expression in the hypothalamic nuclei. Using mouse models, he demonstrated that artificially activating GLP-1 receptor neurons induces meal cessation, while inhibiting them allows continued eating.
These research findings are regarded as a significant scientific achievement that clearly elucidates the brain mechanisms of GLP-1 appetite suppressants. The results were published in the international journal Science in June 2024.
Professor Choi said, "This research is significant in that it elucidates how appetite is regulated in the brain and how GLP-1 appetite suppressants operate by utilizing neuroscience tools," and added, "In the future, I will aim to identify the causes of metabolic diseases in modern individuals and strive to develop new appetite suppressants."
Reference materials
Science (2024), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adj2537