Meltem Weger

Dr Meltem Weger is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB), University of Queensland. Her research focuses on circadian rhythms' roles in (patho-)physiology, particularly liver metabolism and endocrine systems. She holds a PhD from Heidelberg University (2013) and completed postdoctoral work at Birmingham University and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). Key research interests include circadian-glucocorticoid interactions, metabolic homeostasis, and chronodisruption in liver disease.

Her work spans molecular and cellular biology approaches, including omics technologies to study metabolic changes in stress-related conditions and circadian clock disruptions. Notable contributions include elucidating how circadian clocks regulate liver gene expression and metabolic pathways, with implications for drug discovery and disease mechanisms. Collaborations involve multidisciplinary teams investigating circadian rhythms in renal physiology, drug timing strategies, and stress-induced pathologies.

Recent studies highlight maternal high-fat diet effects on offspring metabolism through circadian-independent endocrine changes, and the role of renal tubular circadian clocks in systemic metabolism. She contributes to projects like the NHMRC grant on microbiota-growth hormone axes and liver disease mechanisms.