Institut für Epidemiologie und Prävention

On April 28 and 29, 2026, the general assembly of NAKO e.V. took place at the University Medical Center Freiburg. Representatives from the 26 member institutions, funding agencies, as well as study centers and infrastructures came together to discuss current developments and strategic topics related to the NAKO Health Study.

The event was opened by Prof. Dr. Lutz Hein, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Freiburg. He emphasized the significance of the Freiburg NAKO site as part of a strong academic research and healthcare institution, as well as the increasing importance of prevention. He also highlighted the achievements of the Freiburg colleagues in MRI and AI-based image analysis. Furthermore, he acknowledged the professional team at the Freiburg study center—a response rate of nearly 90 percent reflects an empathetic and high-quality examination process.

Chaired by the NAKO e.V. board president, Prof. Dr. Annette Peters, the assembly focused on key topics: advances and challenges within the study centers, questions regarding data use and accessibility, as well as core issues such as endpoint validation, immediate analytics, MRI, mortality follow-up, and activities within the National Decade against Post-Infectious Diseases.

On March 6, 2026, Assistant Professor Dr. Pascal Schlosser delivered his inaugural lecture on the topic “Integrative Genomics – Prioritization of causal genes and gene-based enrichment analyses.” In the presence of the institute’s director, Prof. Dr. Anna Köttgen—who subsequently presented him with the Venia Legendi—and his doctoral advisor, Prof. em. Dr. Martin Schumacher, he delivered an insightful lecture, engaging the audience to illustrate just how highly complex the identification and prioritization of disease-causing genes can be when combining various genomic and molecular datasets. His presentation on the significance of signaling pathways and protein networks, as well as the validation of results using external databases, gave the students in attendance a glimpse into the work conducted at the institute.

Sara Monteiro-Martins has received the AI-ISN Early Career Researcher Award in the Basic Research category for her paper “Genetic screens of imaging-derived kidney volumes identify genes linked to kidney function.”

The NAKO Health Study is in full swing at the Freiburg Study Center. On January 15, 2026, the 2,500th participant in the third phase of the study was welcomed with a bouquet of flowers. She had already been examined in 2016 and 2021. The nationwide health study, which has been ongoing since 2014, investigates how lifestyle and environmental factors influence the risk of common diseases. In total, approximately 20,230 examinations have been conducted at the Medical Center – University of Freiburg as part of NAKO, and an additional 98,000 questionnaires have been collected and processed.

Zulema Rodríguez Hernández received the CHARGE Outstanding Poster Award at the 2025 CHARGE Consortium Meeting in Durham, North Carolina. Her poster presented our approach to phenotype-wide molecular causal inference network analysis (PMCN).

At the 20th Annual Scientific Meeting of the German Society of Epidemiology (DGEpi) in Münster (September 23–25, 2025), Inga Steinbrenner received the second Stephan-Weiland Prize for emerging epidemiologists.
The award recognizes her publication “Associations of Urine and Plasma Metabolites With Kidney Failure and Death in a Chronic Kidney Disease Cohort,” published in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases (AJKD) (corresponding author: Peggy Sekula). The prize is awarded for innovative and relevant contributions to epidemiological research related to Germany.

Pascal Schlosser has been elected as a new member of the Freiburg Center for Data Analysis, Modeling, and AI (FDMAI).

The Vienna Prevention Project (ViPP) at the Medical University of Vienna aims to break new ground in public health through comprehensive health data and preventive medicine concepts. Against this backdrop, part of the Vienna team visited the NAKO Study Center in Freiburg in June 2025.

During the visit, the delegation learned about the structure, organization, and, in particular, the MRI examinations conducted at the Mannheim Study Center. The overall coordination of the supplementary MRI examinations is led by Professor Dr. Fabian Bamberg and his deputy, Professor Dr. Christopher Schlett; furthermore, Freiburg serves as the Imaging Core responsible for coordination and training. In addition to medical imaging, the focus was also on organizational processes and results from the NAKO study. The colleagues from Vienna expressed great interest in the work being done on-site.

Such an exchange is also of great value to NAKO. The ViPP study aims to pursue approaches toward innovative health centers for preventive medicine. These centers are intended to offer important preventive measures—including nutrition and exercise training as well as counseling formats—under one roof and with a streamlined organizational structure. Central to this are occupational health and occupational psychology topics, as well as digitalization in the form of telemedicine services, particularly with regard to follow-up care. This is a perspective that could also provide interesting impetus within the German preventive care landscape.

Further information on the ViPP: Vienna Prevention Project

How does Germany’s largest health study contribute to preventive research? Henrik Schwiedeßen spoke with Dr. Jasmin Kiekert and Prof. Dr. Anna Köttgen for “Region im Blick” about the study’s findings and what individuals can do to maintain their health.

The theme of World Kidney Day (WKD) 2025 is “Are Your Kidneys OK? Detect early, protect kidney health.” In recognition of WKD on March 13, 2025, the editors of AJKD are presenting a collection of ten articles highlighting research on kidney disease from around the world.
As part of this collection, our article “Associations of Urine and Plasma Metabolites With Kidney Failure and Death in a Chronic Kidney Disease Cohort” (first author: Inga Steinbrenner, last author: Peggy Sekula) will be publicly available.

Oleg Borisov has been awarded a two-year fellowship as a Digital Medical Scientist through the prestigious Hans A. Krebs Medical Scientist Program. This program supports outstanding postdoctoral researchers in conducting translational research projects at the Medical Center – University of Freiburg.

On November 4, 2024, Pascal Schlosser was awarded the prestigious Helmut Holzer Research Prize by the Freiburg Scientific Society for his innovative research in statistical genomics and molecular epidemiology. The Helmut Holzer Research Prize honors researchers for their outstanding achievements in the fields of medicine, the natural sciences, and engineering.

The team from the Institute of Genetic Epidemiology participated in ASN Kidney Week 2024 with an invited talk (Anna Köttgen), one oral presentation, and five posters. Our contributions were recognized with a “Kidney Stars” travel grant (Inga Steinbrenner), which included tailored events and networking opportunities, and one poster was highlighted in a “Top Trainee” poster session (Stefan Haug).

The Institute of Genetic Epidemiology was represented at the 2024 CHARGE Consortium meeting in Rotterdam with an invited talk (Anna Köttgen), a plenary talk (Nora Scherer), five working group presentations, and four posters. In addition to two travel grants for Nora Scherer and Sara Monteiro-Martins, Oleg Borisov received the 2024 CHARGE Outstanding Poster Award, and Anna Köttgen was honored with the 2024 CHARGE Cupples Mentorship Award.

On October 28, 2024, Ulla T. Schultheiß was awarded the Future Prize in Nephrology by the Board of Trustees of the German Society of Nephrology for her work titled “Interactive Exploration of Adverse Events and Multimorbidity in CKD.” The Future Prize in Nephrology is awarded for innovative research in primarily non-clinical or non-basic science areas of nephrology, such as digital medicine (with a focus on nephrology).

The interactive plots are publicly accessible, and a tutorial on how to use them is available online.

As of October 1, 2024, Anna Köttgen has taken over as project director of the NAKO Health Study at the Freiburg site. The NAKO Health Study is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and is currently the largest population-based study in Germany. At the Freiburg study center, 10,000 of a total of 205,000 participants were enrolled in the study and will now be examined and surveyed repeatedly over the course of the study. Together with the participants, our study team is conducting research for a healthier future.

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has appointed Pascal Schlosser, the Emmy Noether Research Group Leader in Freiburg, as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology. The Johns Hopkins Department of Epidemiology is the oldest department of epidemiology in the world and was ranked No. 1 in the field of epidemiology in 2024 and 2025 (U.S. News & World Report Rankings).

An article by Katharina Meyer for the Badische Zeitung on the launch of the third phase of the NAKO Health Study at the Freiburg Study Center.

“People in Freiburg are slimmer than elsewhere, but on average they are also overweight. This is shown by a nationwide health study—as well as new findings on air quality.” An article by David Zastrow for SWR.

“The NAKO Health Study is the largest population-based study in Germany. Since 2014, thousands of randomly selected individuals have been undergoing regular medical examinations and being surveyed about their lifestyle habits. Nearly 10,000 residents of Freiburg are also part of this so-called cohort study. What findings have the researchers reached, and how is the collected data being used?” A report by Selina Stahl for BadenTV Süd.

At this year’s KI-ISN Early Career Researcher Awards ceremony for basic research, Stefan Haug was one of the recipients for his paper “Multi-omic analysis of human kidney tissue identified medulla-specific gene expression patterns.”

The German Research Foundation (DFG) has accepted Pascal Schlosser into the Emmy Noether Program and is funding his project titled “Causal Inference through Machine Learning: Using Multidimensional Omics Data to Improve Our Understanding of Complex Diseases” (SCHL 2092/3-1). Over the next six years, he and his team at the Institute of Genetic Epidemiology will combine machine learning and network analysis to investigate the relationships between molecular features, such as proteins, and complex diseases.

Sara Monteiro-Martins has been selected to receive funding through the prestigious Hans A. Krebs Digital Medical Scientist Program. The program officially begins on January 1, 2024, and offers outstanding postdocs the opportunity to establish themselves as independent researchers within the Faculty of Medicine in Freiburg.

Pascal Schlosser has been appointed as a new Associate Investigator at the Cluster of Excellence CIBSS – Centre for Integrative Biological Signalling Studies.

October 2023 • For Science: 8,000 Freiburg Residents Participate in the Nako Health Study

“The Nako Health Study is Germany’s largest observational study. In Freiburg alone, there are 8,000 participants. One of them is Ralf Fees. After five years, it was time for his second examination.” A report by Manuel Fritsch for the Badische Zeitung.

06/2023 • New study in Nature Genetics

In an article in Nature Genetics, Pascal Schlosser, Nora Scherer, and other members of our team integrated genetic profiles of 5,000 study participants with their plasma and urine metabolomes to identify and characterize systemic and kidney-specific metabolic processes. We identified 1,299 metabolite-associated genetic loci that contribute to the production, degradation, or transport of the metabolites in question. Associations with 40% of the metabolites in question would have been overlooked if plasma had been examined in isolation. 

03/2023 • Imputation-based analysis of whole-exome sequencing data from the UK Biobank identifies genes associated with kidney disease

New publication in Nature Communications: To investigate the effects of rare genetic variants on kidney disease, Matthias Wuttke and colleagues applied a genotype imputation approach to whole-exome sequencing data from the UK Biobank, yielding a sample size of over 400,000 patients. Their genetic association study of this cohort identified 158 rare genetic variants, many of which were previously unknown, and 105 genes with significant associations with kidney function. This cost-effective study approach significantly increases the statistical power for identifying susceptibility genes, thereby enabling new insights into the genetics of kidney disease.

June 2022 • Presentation by Matthias Wuttke as part of the KDIGO Genetics in CKD Webinar Series

Matthias Wuttke gave a presentation on the role of polygenic risk scores in nephrology as part of the KDIGO Genetics in CKD Webinar Series.

03/2022 • Jan Lipovsek receives the Talklet Award at DAGStat 2022

At the DAGStat 2022 conference, Jan Lipovsek received one of three jury awards for his talklet “Estimated glomerular filtration rate in the GNC (NAKO) study – implementations and implications.” Peggy Sekula and Anna Köttgen from our institute, as well as Elke Schäffner and Iris Heid from the NAKO Kidney Expert Group, are co-authors of the presentation.

03/2022 • Interview with Prof. Anna Köttgen on the occasion of International Women’s Day

On the occasion of International Women’s Day 2022, the Stuttgarter Nachrichten published an interview with our institute director Anna Köttgen on the genetic basis of kidney disease and gout.

03/2022 • Interview with Prof. Anna Köttgen: Better Understanding Kidney Diseases

The University of Freiburg’s online magazine published an interview with our institute director Anna Köttgen. She discusses genetic kidney diseases, research, and SFB 1453.

03/2022 • World Kidney Day 2022: App developed by CKDNapp to support therapy for kidney failure highlighted by the BMBF

On World Kidney Day, March 10, 2022, the BMBF aims to draw attention to funded research projects in the field of chronic kidney disease. People with chronic kidney disease require a differentiated, individually tailored diagnosis and treatment. To support physicians, early-career researchers from the “CKDNapp” junior research network (including Dr. Fruzsina Kotsis and Dr. Ulla T. Schultheiß, Institute of Genetic Epidemiology) are developing an app with a wide range of functions for this purpose. 

03/2022 • World Kidney Day (WKD) 2022: Group publication highlighted in the WKD collection of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases (AJKD)

The theme of WKD 2022 is “Kidney Health for All – Bridge the gap to better kidney care.” In recognition of WKD on March 10, 2022, the editors of AJKD are presenting a collection of ten articles highlighting research on kidney disease from around the world.
As part of this collection, our article “Urine Metabolite Levels, Adverse Kidney Outcomes, and Mortality in CKD Patients: A Metabolome-wide Association Study” (first author: Inga Steinbrenner, last authors: Anna Köttgen and Peggy Sekula) will also be publicly available.

December 2021 • New publication in Nature Communications: “Epigenome-wide association study of serum urate reveals insights into urate co-regulation and the SLC2A9 locus”

DNA methylation in whole blood captures genetic and environmental influences, and we investigated it in a trans-ethnic meta-analysis of epigenome-wide association studies on serum urate. We identified 100 epigenome-wide significant CpGs that explain 11.6% of the variance in serum urate. At SLC2A9, the serum urate locus with the largest effect in genome-wide association studies (GWAS), four CpGs have significant causal effects on serum urate levels and/or gout, and two of these CpGs partially mediate the effects of urate-associated GWAS variants. 

12/2021 • New publication in Nature Communications “Meta-analyses identify DNA methylation associated with kidney function and damage”

As part of the CKDGen Consortium, we conducted the largest meta-analysis to date of blood-based epigenome-wide association studies for estimated glomerular filtration rate and the urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio. The analysis identified various CpG sites where DNA methylation is associated with the respective phenotypes. This provides new insights into mechanisms of transcriptional regulation linked to kidney function. 

10/2021 • Pascal Schlosser elected spokesperson for the Population Genetics and Genome Analysis Working Group

During the 14th joint workshop of the IBS-DR, DGEpi, and GMDS on biometric aspects of genome analysis, Pascal Schlosser was elected spokesperson for the Population Genetics and Genome Analysis Working Group of the International Biometric Society, German Region.

07/2021 • Pascal Schlosser receives DFG-funded Walter Benjamin Fellowship “Proteome-wide Association Studies of Metabolites and Kidney Function” (SCHL 2292/1-1)

The German Research Foundation (DFG) is funding a project at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health led by Pascal Schlosser for the next two years. As part of this Walter Benjamin Fellowship, he will collaborate with the team of Prof. Dr. Morgan Grams and Prof. Dr. Josef Coresh to investigate the relationships between the proteome and the metabolome on the one hand, and the proteome and kidney function on the other.

07/2021 • Participation in the new Collaborative Research Center OncoEscape

The SFB 1479 “OncoEscape – Oncogene-driven immune escape” will be funded by the DFG for four years starting July 1, 2021, with nearly 11 million euros. As part of the service project, the Institute of Genetic Epidemiology will contribute to identifying and characterizing immune cell-specific metabolic markers.

06/2021 • Anna Köttgen has been elected to the German National Academy of Sciences – Leopoldina

Election to the Leopoldina is one of the highest academic honors and recognitions for scientists.

05/2021 • Dr. Pascal Schlosser receives the MEDEP Fellow Award

Pascal Schlosser receives the MEDEP Fellow Award from SFB 992 Medical Epigenetics. The award comes with €30,000 in funding, which will be used in his project on epigenome-based proteome-wide association studies of kidney function in granulomatosis with polyangiitis.

05/2021 • New DFG-funded research project “Identification and Characterization of Risk Factors for the Progression of Chronic Kidney Disease and the Occurrence of Cardiovascular Disease and Death” (SE 2407/3-1)

Over the next two years, the DFG will fund Peggy Sekula’s project to investigate metabolite concentrations (plasma and urine) in patients with chronic kidney disease in relation to their association with and prediction of prospective endpoints such as mortality, end-stage renal failure, and cardiovascular events. The study is based on data and measurements collected from participants in the GCKD study.

04/2021 • Membership in the American Society for Clinical Investigation

Anna Köttgen was elected as a new member of the prestigious American Society for Clinical Investigation.

04/2021 • Inaugural Lecture by PD Dr. Peggy Sekula

On April 23, 2021, PD Dr. Peggy Sekula will deliver her inaugural lecture on the topic “Genetic Epidemiology: An Insight into the Methods.” To allow for the participation of a large number of interested parties, the inaugural lecture will be held online.

03/2021 • New publication "pgainsim: an R-package to assess the mode of inheritance for quantitative trait loci in GWAS" in Bioinformatics

We have developed an R package to investigate the underlying mode of inheritance of a genetic association.

03/2021 • New publication in Nature Communications “Rare genetic variants affecting urine metabolite levels link population variation to inborn errors of metabolism”

In this project, we investigated the effects of exonic variants on urine metabolite levels collected from GCKD participants. A total of 128 significant associations were observed. Sixteen of the 30 genes involved are already known to be associated with inborn errors of metabolism. In silico gene knockout models in a virtual human predict metabolic changes in the same direction as those we observed in our GCKD participants. Our study identifies new candidates (variants, genes) for inborn errors of metabolism.

03/2021 • Dr. Pascal Schlosser receives the 2021 Gustav-Adolf-Lienert Prize

Pascal Schlosser receives the Gustav-Adolf-Lienert Prize. The prize is awarded by the German Region of the International Biometric Society to recognize outstanding publications in the field of biometrics. The prize was awarded for our publication on Netboost, a network analysis method for local dimensionality reduction, in IEEE Transactions on Computational Biology and Bioinformatics.

01/2021 • PD Dr. Peggy Sekula Appointed Guest Editor at Metabolites

PD Dr. Peggy Sekula has been appointed guest editor at Metabolites for the special issue “Metabolomics Approaches for the Understanding, Diagnosis, and Monitoring of Chronic Kidney Diseases.” 

01/2021 • Collaborative Research Center 1453 “Nephrogenetics” Approved

The German Research Foundation (DFG) has approved funding for Collaborative Research Center 1453 “Nephrogenetics” at the University of Freiburg (spokesperson: Anna Köttgen; three funded projects at the Institute of Genetic Epidemiology). Using complementary approaches, 15 research projects will utilize evidence from monogenic and complex kidney diseases between 2021 and 2024 to gain new insights into potentially modifiable candidate molecules and pathways.