# Juleen Zierath
**Juleen R. Zierath** is a physiologist who studies how exercise, diet, and circadian rhythm shape insulin sensitivity in skeletal muscle. She is Professor of Clinical Integrative Physiology at the Department of Physiology and [Pharmacology](https://www.edgepedia.org/pharmacology), Karolinska Institutet, and Professor and Executive Director at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research (CBMR) at the [University of Copenhagen](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-copenhagen).[1](https://novonordiskfonden.dk/en/news/scientist-who-promotes-exercise-as-medicine-awarded-prize-for-trailblazing-work-on-physical-activity-and-diabetes/) • [2](https://ki.se/en/people/juleen-zierath) Her laboratory demonstrated, using ex vivo incubation of human muscle, the defects in insulin stimulation of intracellular signaling molecules in patients with insulin-resistant type 2 diabetes, and according to a 2012 *Cell Metabolism* study, later showed that exercise remodels [DNA methylation](https://www.edgepedia.org/dna-methylation) in human skeletal muscle.[3](https://ki.se/en/research/research-areas-centres-and-networks/research-groups/integrative-physiology-juleen-zierath-and-anna-krook) • [4](https://europepmc.org/article/MED/22405075)
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Field | Exercise metabolism, insulin resistance, and the epigenetics of type 2 diabetes[2](https://ki.se/en/people/juleen-zierath) • [3](https://ki.se/en/research/research-areas-centres-and-networks/research-groups/integrative-physiology-juleen-zierath-and-anna-krook) |
| Training | B.S. Wisconsin–River Falls 1984; M.A. Ball State 1986; Ph.D. Karolinska Institutet 1995; postdoc, Harvard Medical School, with Barbara Kahn[5](https://www.ae-info.org/ae/User/Zierath_Juleen/CV?skin=raw) • [6](https://www.sciencenews.dk/en/exercise-the-metabolic-booster-for-everyone-healthy-or-not) |
| Professorships | Karolinska Institutet: Surgical Science 2001–2005; Molecular Medicine and Surgery 2006–; Physiology and Pharmacology 2009–; Copenhagen (part-time) since 2010[2](https://ki.se/en/people/juleen-zierath) • [7](https://erc.europa.eu/news-events/magazine/usa-nordic-countries) |
| Signature work | *Integrative Biology of Exercise* (Cell, 2014) and *Metabolic consequences of obesity and type 2 diabetes: Balancing genes and environment for personalized care* (Cell, 2021), reviews she co-authored[8](https://profiles-dev.umassmed.edu/display/132121); ["Exercise Metabolism and the Molecular Regulation of Skeletal Muscle Adaptation"](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2012.12.012), *Cell Metabolism*, 2013 |
| Key finding | Exercise hypomethylates promoters of PGC-1α, PDK4, and PPAR-δ in human skeletal muscle (2012)[4](https://europepmc.org/article/MED/22405075) |
| Honors | Academia Europaea 2011; Minkowski Prize 2001; Diabetes Prize for Excellence 2024 (DKK 6 million)[9](https://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Zierath_Juleen) • [10](https://news.ki.se/professor-juleen-zierath-receives-prestigious-award-for-diabetes-research) |
| Other roles | was Editor-in-Chief of Diabetologia; Nobel Assembly member since 2006; Nobel Committee 2011–13[5](https://www.ae-info.org/ae/User/Zierath_Juleen/CV?skin=raw) • [21](https://doi.org/10.1007/s00125-015-3764-8) |
## Early life and training
Zierath was born in [Milwaukee](https://www.edgepedia.org/milwaukee), Wisconsin. She earned a BS from the [University of Wisconsin–River Falls](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-wisconsin-river-falls) in physical education, secondary education, and business administration, and an MA in exercise science from [Ball State University](https://www.edgepedia.org/ball-state-university), with a thesis on bone mineral content following swim and run training.[11](https://doi.org/10.1007/s00125-010-1952-0) • [5](https://www.ae-info.org/ae/User/Zierath_Juleen/CV?skin=raw) From 1986 to 1988 she worked as a research laboratory technician in a laboratory at Washington University School of Medicine, studying glucose transport regulation in skeletal muscle in the context of type 2 diabetes and exercise.[9](https://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Zierath_Juleen) • [11](https://doi.org/10.1007/s00125-010-1952-0)
In 1989 she moved to Stockholm and enrolled in the PhD program at Karolinska Institutet, joining Harriet Wallberg-Henriksson's group in the Department of Clinical Physiology.[11](https://doi.org/10.1007/s00125-010-1952-0) She was a doctoral fellow in the Division of Clinical Physiology from 1989 to 1995, with Swedish Medical Research Council graduate funding in 1991–95.[9](https://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Zierath_Juleen) Her dissertation, *In vitro studies of human skeletal muscle: hormonal and metabolic regulation of glucose transport*, was published in 1995 in Acta Physiologica Scandinavica, volume 155, Supplementum 626.[12](https://dev.nlk.cz/mdv/doc/MED00021266?lang=en) According to a 2011 profile in *Diabetologia*, during her doctoral training she spent six months at the Steno Diabetes Center in Copenhagen working on the genetics of type 2 diabetes, and after the PhD she completed a postdoctoral fellowship in metabolic research at Harvard Medical School with [Barbara Kahn](https://www.edgepedia.org/barbara-b-kahn), funded by the Swedish Institute in 1995–96.[11](https://doi.org/10.1007/s00125-010-1952-0) • [9](https://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Zierath_Juleen) She returned to Karolinska Institutet in 1996, which has been her main base since.[6](https://www.sciencenews.dk/en/exercise-the-metabolic-booster-for-everyone-healthy-or-not)
## Career at Karolinska Institutet and Copenhagen
According to the Academy of Europe, her Karolinska appointments form a dated sequence: Docent in [Physiology](https://www.edgepedia.org/physiology) with special emphasis in metabolism in 1998; University Lecturer in Experimental Clinical Physiology in 2000; Professor of Clinical Integrative Physiology in the Department of Surgical Science from 2001 to 2005; Professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery from 2006; and Professor in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology from 2009.[9](https://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Zierath_Juleen) • [2](https://ki.se/en/people/juleen-zierath)
Since 2010 she has held a 20 percent professorship of Integrative Physiology at the University of Copenhagen, and she has been Professor and became Executive Director at CBMR there.[9](https://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Zierath_Juleen) • [1](https://novonordiskfonden.dk/en/news/scientist-who-promotes-exercise-as-medicine-awarded-prize-for-trailblazing-work-on-physical-activity-and-diabetes/) She has directed Karolinska's Strategic Research Program in Diabetes since 2010 and was Editor-in-Chief of Diabetologia.[5](https://www.ae-info.org/ae/User/Zierath_Juleen/CV?skin=raw) She joined the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet in 2006 and served on the Nobel Committee from 2011 to 2013, after two adjunct years from 2008.[5](https://www.ae-info.org/ae/User/Zierath_Juleen/CV?skin=raw) An ERC grant gave her a specific, relatively long period of sustained and substantial funding for research into epigenetics and how the environment influences the genome to restore insulin sensitivity in skeletal muscle.[7](https://erc.europa.eu/news-events/magazine/usa-nordic-countries)
## Representative work
- *Integrative Biology of Exercise* (Cell, 2014). This review, which she co-authored, framed exercise biology from integrative physiology to molecular mechanism; according to the companion 2013 Cell Metabolism review that she co-authored with Egan, aerobic and resistance exercise, the extremes of the exercise continuum, elicit markedly different training responses mediated by signaling pathways coupled to downstream regulators of transcription and translation.[8](https://profiles-dev.umassmed.edu/display/132121) • [13](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550413112005037) [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2014.10.029](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2014.10.029)
- *Metabolic consequences of obesity and type 2 diabetes: Balancing genes and environment for personalized care* (Cell, 2021). This review, which she co-authored, weighed genetic and environmental contributors to metabolic disease and their consequences for personalized care.[8](https://profiles-dev.umassmed.edu/display/132121) [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2021.02.012](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2021.02.012)
Two primary findings stand behind these syntheses. In 2008, her Cell paper reported that diacylglycerol kinase delta (DGKδ) activity is reduced in skeletal muscle from type 2 diabetic patients and diabetic rodents and normalized upon correction of hyperglycemia, and that reduced DGKδ activity, whether by chemical inhibition or genetic ablation, contributes to hyperglycemia-induced insulin resistance.[14](https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(08)00056-1) In 2012, a Cell Metabolism study showed that whole-genome methylation was decreased in skeletal muscle biopsies from healthy sedentary men and women after acute exercise, and that exercise induced dose-dependent expression of PGC-1α, PDK4, and PPAR-δ together with marked hypomethylation of each respective promoter; promoter methylation of these genes also decreased in mouse [soleus muscle](https://www.edgepedia.org/soleus-muscle) 45 minutes after ex vivo contraction.[4](https://europepmc.org/article/MED/22405075) She and a co-author further found that people with type 2 diabetes have increased DNA methylation on two genes, including the one encoding PGC-1α, reducing the gene's activity.[6](https://www.sciencenews.dk/en/exercise-the-metabolic-booster-for-everyone-healthy-or-not)
## Current research directions
The Integrative Physiology group she co-leads at Karolinska focuses on mechanisms underlying metabolic disorders, particularly insulin resistance in skeletal muscle, and on how exercise and muscle contraction increase skeletal muscle and whole-body insulin sensitivity, as well as the effects of skeletal muscle immobility.[3](https://ki.se/en/research/research-areas-centres-and-networks/research-groups/integrative-physiology-juleen-zierath-and-anna-krook) Her Copenhagen group studies circadian biology, epigenetic control, tissue crosstalk, and the metabolic regulation of type 2 diabetes.[16](https://cbmr.ku.dk/research/research-groups/zierath-group/) As a Wallenberg Scholar, she studies how diet and exercise interact with circadian rhythm in type 2 diabetes and obesity, using proteomics and metabolomics to build a holistic picture of the molecules released in a tissue sample.[17](https://kaw.wallenberg.org/en/research/how-circadian-rhythms-impact-effects-exercise-and-food)
Timing has emerged as a practical variable. In a study of men with type 2 diabetes, her group found that high-intensity interval training performed in the evening reduced blood sugar levels, whereas morning sessions did not have the same effect.[17](https://kaw.wallenberg.org/en/research/how-circadian-rhythms-impact-effects-exercise-and-food) Rodent studies pointed the same direction, with exercise early in the active phase boosting metabolism through the oxygen-sensing protein HIF-1α.[6](https://www.sciencenews.dk/en/exercise-the-metabolic-booster-for-everyone-healthy-or-not) According to the *Journal of Sport and Health Science*, her recent outputs include a 2024 review on exercise, insulin sensitivity, and skeletal muscle health in type 2 diabetes, where she was corresponding author, and a 2025 paper reporting that exercise training-induced extracellular miR-136-3p modulates glucose uptake and [myogenesis](https://www.edgepedia.org/myogenesis) through targeting of NRDC in human skeletal muscle.[18](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39241865/) • [19](https://researchprofiles.ku.dk/en/persons/juleen-r-zierath/) Her 2024 Karolinska publications also include work on DGKδ overexpression improving glucose clearance and protecting against obesity development.[2](https://ki.se/en/people/juleen-zierath)
## Honors and elected memberships
She was elected to the Academy of Europe (Academia Europaea) in 2011 in the Physiology and [Neuroscience](https://www.edgepedia.org/neuroscience) section.[9](https://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Zierath_Juleen) Her prizes include the 2001 Minkowski Prize, a young investigator award from the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, and the 2010 Datta Lectureship Award from FEBS.[9](https://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Zierath_Juleen) In August 2024 she received the Diabetes Prize for Excellence from EASD and the Novo Nordisk Foundation for her research on physical activity and diabetes; the prize carries DKK 6 million, approximately SEK 9.15 million.[10](https://news.ki.se/professor-juleen-zierath-receives-prestigious-award-for-diabetes-research) In June 2025 she received the Kirsten and Freddy Johansen Preclinical Research Prize at the University of Copenhagen, worth DKK 1.75 million, of which DKK 250,000 is a personal award.[20](https://healthsciences.ku.dk/newsfaculty-news/2025/06/clinical-and-preclinical-research-recognised-with-prestigious-awards/)
## References
1. Scientist who promotes 'exercise as medicine' awarded prize for trailblazing work on physical activity and diabetes – Novo Nordisk Fonden. https://novonordiskfonden.dk/en/news/scientist-who-promotes-exercise-as-medicine-awarded-prize-for-trailblazing-work-on-physical-activity-and-diabetes/
2. Juleen Zierath | Karolinska Institutet. https://ki.se/en/people/juleen-zierath
3. Integrative physiology – Juleen Zierath and Anna Krook | Karolinska Institutet. https://ki.se/en/research/research-areas-centres-and-networks/research-groups/integrative-physiology-juleen-zierath-and-anna-krook
4. Acute exercise remodels promoter methylation in human skeletal muscle (Cell Metabolism, 2012). https://europepmc.org/article/MED/22405075
5. Juleen Zierath – short curriculum vitae (Academia Europaea). https://www.ae-info.org/ae/User/Zierath_Juleen/CV?skin=raw
6. Exercise – the metabolic booster for everyone – healthy or not (Sciencenews.dk). https://www.sciencenews.dk/en/exercise-the-metabolic-booster-for-everyone-healthy-or-not
7. From the USA to the Nordic countries – ERC Magazine. https://erc.europa.eu/news-events/magazine/usa-nordic-countries
8. Juleen Zierath | Profiles RNS. https://profiles-dev.umassmed.edu/display/132121
9. Academy of Europe: Zierath Juleen. https://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Zierath_Juleen
10. Professor Juleen Zierath receives prestigious award for diabetes research | Karolinska Institutet. https://news.ki.se/professor-juleen-zierath-receives-prestigious-award-for-diabetes-research
11. Keeping ahead of the fast pace of science (Diabetologia, 2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00125-010-1952-0
12. In vitro studies of human skeletal muscle: hormonal and metabolic regulation of glucose transport (dissertation record). https://dev.nlk.cz/mdv/doc/MED00021266?lang=en
13. Exercise Metabolism and the Molecular Regulation of Skeletal Muscle Adaptation (Cell Metabolism, 2013). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550413112005037
14. https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(08)00056-1
15. An integrative analysis reveals coordinated reprogramming of the epigenome and the transcriptome in human skeletal muscle after training. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4622000/
16. Circadian Biology in the Zierath Group – University of Copenhagen, CBMR. https://cbmr.ku.dk/research/research-groups/zierath-group/
17. How circadian rhythms impact the effects of exercise and food | Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation. https://kaw.wallenberg.org/en/research/how-circadian-rhythms-impact-effects-exercise-and-food
18. A pathway to enhanced insulin sensitivity and skeletal muscle health in type 2 diabetes (Journal of Sport and Health Science, 2024). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39241865/
19. Juleen R Zierath – University of Copenhagen Research Portal. https://researchprofiles.ku.dk/en/persons/juleen-r-zierath/
20. Clinical and preclinical research recognised with prestigious awards – University of Copenhagen. https://healthsciences.ku.dk/newsfaculty-news/2025/06/clinical-and-preclinical-research-recognised-with-prestigious-awards/
21. Turning the page. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00125-015-3764-8
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Life and health › Life and health scientists › Medical and health researchers › Researchers in cardiovascular, metabolic, and endocrine research › Obesity and metabolic syndrome research*
*Initially written Sep 20, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 25, 2026; Sep 30, 2026 · Edited: Sep 25, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Sep 30, 2026*
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