The research of my group concentrates on the interaction between the immune and endocrine system in context of metabolic disease.  What has become very clear in recent years is that people with metabolic disease, most notably those with Type 2 Diabetes (T2D), are more susceptible to infections. That this co-morbidity is important for human disease has been shown in the recent COVID-19 pandemic, which showed that mortality was much higher in people that also had T2D than those who did not. 

Many explanations have been given for this observation, but truth is that we do not know much about why this happens, nor how we can solve these issues. Studies in mice indicate that hyperglycemia is an important underlying cause of immune deficiency with people with T2D.  We are now investigating in human patients whether this is also true and which anti-diabetic therapy is most efficient in reversing immunopathology. 

In addition, my team is working on the endocrinology of sports. Together with a team of specialists in Thalassotherapia Opatija and a group of Croatian top athletes, we try to unravel the changes in systemic metabolism of people subject to extreme exercise