Professor Jens Juul Holst

Professor Medical Physiology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Jens Juul Holst is a Professor of Medical Physiology and Deputy Head of the Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. He is also Research Director at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, University of Copenhagen.

Professor Holst's scientific work has been focused on the regulatory peptides of the pancreas and the gut and their importance in the regulation of the functions of the GI-tract and metabolism, with particular focus on blood glucose and appetite regulation, obesity and diabetes. A particular emphasis has been on the role of the incretin hormones of the gut (GLP-1 and GIP). Professor Holst great scientific achievements include the discovery of GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide 1) as the gut hormone being responsible for the glucose-induced gastrointestinal stimulation of insulin secretion and his subsequent both basic and translational research in this field.

Professor Holst is among the most cited European scientists in his field. He has authored more than 1650 scientific publications, which have received > 68.000 citations, and he has an H-index of 130.