Johan Auwerx received his M.D. in 1982 and his Ph.D. in Molecular Endocrinology in 1989 at the Katholieke Universiteit in Leuven, Belgium. He is a certified clinical specialist in Endocrinology, Metabolism and Nutrition and is currently professor at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he heads a research group together with Dr. Schoonjans. Johan Auwerx is internationally known as an expert in metabolic diseases, molecular biology, and mouse molecular genetics. His work was instrumental for the development of agonists of the peroxisome proliferation activated receptors into drugs, which now are commonly used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes. He discovered the signaling activity of bile acids and was amongst the first scientists to recognize that transcriptional cofactors, such as the sirtuin and the SRC/p160 gene families, act as energy sensors that influence metabolic homeostasis. This research validated these cofactors as valid targets to treat metabolic diseases, and spurred the clinical use of natural compounds, such as resveratrol, as metabolic modulators. Dr. Auwerx spearheaded a unique large mouse phenogenomics program and was the director of the Strasbourg Mouse Clinical Institute from 2006 to 2008. Prof. Auwerx was elected as a member of EMBO in 2003 and received a dozen of scientific prizes, including the prestigious Minkowski award (1998), the Morgagni Gold Medal (2004), the International Danone Nutrition Award (2009), and the Wiendaus prize (2010). He serves on the editorial board of prestigious scientific journals and as scientific advisor to several biopharmaceutical companies