Christoffer Clemmensen
Associate Professor
University of Copenhagen
Talk Information
Incretins and Polypharmacology
19 June 2025, 09:30am - 09:50am, in the Pacific Jewel Ballroom
L57 – Peptide-Based Therapeutics for Treatment of Cardiometabolic Diseases
Dr. Christoffer Clemmensen is an Associate Professor and Group Leader at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research at the University of Copenhagen. He also serves as the Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder of Ousia Pharma ApS, a biotechnology company developing novel therapeutics for metabolic diseases.
Academic Background
Dr. Clemmensen earned his B.Sc. in Exercise Biology, 2006, M.Sc. in Human Biology, 2009, and Ph.D. in Molecular Pharmacology, 2013, from the University of Copenhagen. He completed postdoctoral training at the Helmholtz Diabetes Center in Munich, Germany, where he later served as a Group Leader before returning to Copenhagen in 2017 to establish his independent research group.
Research Focus
Professor Clemmensen's research centers on the biological regulation of body weight and the development of innovative therapeutic strategies to combat obesity and its metabolic comorbidities. His lab investigates the physiological and molecular mechanisms that protect against weight gain, with a particular emphasis on neuroendocrine signaling pathways and neuroplasticity in the hypothalamus. The team employs rodent and human models of experimental overfeeding to dissect these mechanisms and utilizes medicinal chemistry to engineer novel drug candidates, including modified peptide hormones designed to target specific cells and modulate energy balance.
Notable Contributions
Dr. Clemmensen has made significant contributions to the understanding of obesity and metabolic regulation. His work has demonstrated the therapeutic potential of targeting postsynaptic glutamate receptor scaffolding proteins, such as PSD-95 and PICK1, for sustained weight loss. Additionally, his research has highlighted the feasibility of using peptide-mediated targeting to achieve cell-specific ionotropic receptor modulation, offering new avenues for obesity treatment. These findings have been published in high-impact journals, including Nature and Science Advances.
Awards and Honors
Professor Clemmensen's research excellence has been recognized with several prestigious grants and awards, including funding from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, The Lundbeck Foundation, The BioInnovation Institute, Independent Research Fund Denmark, The Danish Diabetes Academy, and the European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes, EFSD.
Professional Engagements
Beyond his academic roles, Dr. Clemmensen is actively involved in translational research and entrepreneurship. As the Chief Scientific Officer of Ousia Pharma ApS, he leads efforts to develop novel therapeutics targeting metabolic diseases. He also contributes to the scientific community through collaborations, mentorship, and participation in various research initiatives aimed at advancing the understanding and treatment of obesity.
Through his interdisciplinary approach and commitment to translational science, Associate Professor Christoffer Clemmensen continues to make significant contributions to the fields of metabolic research and therapeutic development.
Peptide-Based Therapeutics for Treatment of Cardiometabolic Diseases
Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
The global obesity epidemic presents a critical challenge to human health, with weight regain following initial weight loss remaining a major hurdle in long-term obesity management. While incretin-based therapies have demonstrated substantial efficacy in weight reduction, sustaining these benefits requires innovative approaches targeting homeostatic weight regain mechanisms.
This presentation covers the current and emerging landscape of peptide-based therapeutics for weight management and introduces a novel peptide-drug conjugate designed to deliver small-molecule NMDA receptor antagonists via incretin hormones, enabling cell-specific modulation of neuroplasticity to amplify weight loss and metabolic benefits.
Our strategy harnesses the selectivity of incretin G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) expressed in hypothalamic and brainstem neurons to achieve targeted drug delivery. By coupling NMDA receptor antagonists to incretin-based peptides, our conjugates facilitate receptor-mediated uptake into key cell populations, thereby disrupting the maladaptive neuroplasticity associated with obesity.
This interdisciplinary effort bridges medicinal chemistry, neuroscience, and pharmacology to pioneer a multimodal pharmacotherapy targeting homeostatic weight regulatory mechanisms. By addressing a crucial unmet medical need, our peptide-based intervention has the potential to contribute to next-generation obesity treatments and reducing the burden of obesity-related comorbidities.