Rate My Professor Kostas Tsintzas

Professor Kostas Tsintzas serves as Professor of Human Physiology in the School of Life Sciences within the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Nottingham. He joined the institution in 1998 after completing his PhD at Loughborough University. His research centers on the molecular basis of insulin resistance in obesity, diabetes, and ageing; nutrient-gene interactions in skeletal muscle, liver, and adipose tissue; and the regulation of substrate integration in these tissues. Tsintzas explores nutrition and exercise effects in health and disease, emphasizing skeletal muscle metabolism, adipose-muscle crosstalk via extracellular vesicles, sarcopenic obesity, intermittent fasting, energy restriction, and hormones like fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21). He utilizes techniques such as insulin sensitivity assessments, energy expenditure measurements, body composition analysis, tracer infusions, and molecular methods including Real-Time PCR, Western blotting, and primary human skeletal muscle cultures.

Key publications include 'Whole-body and adipose tissue-specific mechanisms underlying the metabolic effects of fibroblast growth factor 21 in the Siberian hamster' (Molecular Metabolism, 2020), 'Effect of acute and short-term dietary fat ingestion on postprandial skeletal muscle protein synthesis rates in middle-aged, overweight, and obese men' (American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism, 2020), 'FGF21 is an insulin-dependent postprandial hormone in adult humans' (Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 2017), 'Obese subcutaneous adipose tissue impairs human myogenesis, particularly in old skeletal muscle, via resistin-mediated activation of NFκB' (Scientific Reports, 2018), and 'Going Back to the Biology of FGF21: New Insights' (Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism, 2019). His research has accumulated over 5,000 citations. A member of The Physiological Society since his PhD days, Tsintzas has taught and researched human metabolic and exercise physiology for over 20 years, co-organized the 'Experimental Models of Physiology' conference in Exeter in 2018, and contributes to human physiology education and research themes.