Michael Ristow

Impact

Michael Ristow is an endocrinologist and metabolism researcher who became Professor of Experimental Endocrinology and Diabetology and Director of the Institute of Experimental Endocrinology at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, after a decade as Professor of Energy Metabolism at ETH Zurich (2013–2022) and earlier as Professor of Human Nutrition at the University of Jena. His work centres on how metabolic regulation, and mitochondrial metabolism in particular, influences age-related disease and lifespan. He is closely associated with mitohormesis, the concept that transient increases in mitochondrial reactive oxygen species induce protective stress responses; a 2009 PNAS study he led reported that antioxidant supplements blocked some health-promoting effects of exercise in humans, and he has written on mitohormesis as an explanation for ROS-induced health benefits. His group uses C. elegans, cell culture, clinical samples and analysis of anonymised patient records to ask whether specific drugs or supplements help people stay healthy longer; recent work reports that reducing mitochondrial calcium levels enhances late-life survival and mobility via mitohormesis.

Metrics

• h-index 73 · google scholar as of 2026-09-23 source ↗

Research output

252 works · 26,961 citations · h-index 66 OpenAlex ↗

Selected publications

• Natural products in drug discovery: advances and opportunities ↗ 2021 · 5,411 citations
• Antioxidants prevent health-promoting effects of physical exercise in humans ↗ 2009 · 1,583 citations
• Inflammatory Cytokines and the Risk to Develop Type 2 Diabetes ↗ 2003 · 1,505 citations
• Glucose Restriction Extends Caenorhabditis elegans Life Span by Inducing Mitochondrial Respiration and Increasing Oxidative Stress ↗ 2007 · 1,222 citations
• Adiponectin and protection against type 2 diabetes mellitus ↗ 2003 · 1,130 citations

Links

Research fields