Rate My Professor Marie-Christine Simon

Jun.-Prof. Dr. Marie-Christine Simon is Junior Professor of Nutrition and Microbiota at the Institute of Nutritional and Food Sciences (IEL) at Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, where she leads a junior research group focused on the Nutrition and Microbiome within the Diet-Body-Brain competence cluster. She completed her studies in nutrition sciences at the University of Bonn and earned her PhD at the German Diabetes Center in Düsseldorf, conducting human clinical trials on the effects of probiotics on insulin resistance, incretin secretion, and inflammatory markers in healthy and obese subjects. She holds certifications as a Registered Dietitian and Clinical Research Associate from the University of Frankfurt. Following her doctorate, she pursued postdoctoral research at the Wallenberg Laboratory, University of Gothenburg, under Fredrik Bäckhed, deepening her expertise in microbiome research, and later at the German Diabetes Center. Since September 2019, she has served as Junior Professor and group leader at Bonn, investigating the impact of commensal microorganisms and their metabolites on the connections between nutrition, metabolism, the gut-brain axis, and cognitive function through translational mechanistic studies in humans. Her work aims to identify associations between the intestinal microbiome, dietary patterns, and cognitive outcomes to inform personalized dietary recommendations. Key publications include studies on gut morphology and microbiota in diabetes progression (Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2020), correlates of insulin-stimulated glucose disposal (Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2019), and the effects of Lactobacillus reuteri on incretin and insulin secretion (Diabetes Care, 2015). She has received the Nutricia Research Award for clinical nutrition (2016) and the Karl-Oberdisse Award (2014). Simon is a member of the Nutrition Committee of the German Diabetes Association and various professional societies, including the German Nutrition Society and the German Society for Nutritional Medicine.