Sessions
14 March 2019 Start 13:00 hours
Session 1:
Adipocyte-Brain Crosstalk
The brain has a fundamental role in the regulation of energy homeostasis, exerting a rigorous control on body weight, appetite, and energy expenditure. Since the discovery of leptin and other adipokines, peripheral organs such as adipose tissue have gained equal importance in the regulation of obesity.
This session covers different aspects of the pathophysiology of obesity, including the close relationship between the brain and the adipose tissue.
Keynote speaker: Thorkild I.A. Sørensen, Copenhagen
Session 2:
Clocks in conflict: how time of feeding matters
Our central master clock, the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), is synchronized by the 24-hour rhythm of light and darkness and communicates this information to various clocks throughout the body. However, the timing of food intake is able to regulate clocks in the periphery, particularly in metabolically active tissues, independent of the SCN.
This session focuses on the crosstalk of peripheral and central clocks in obesity, and the physiological consequences that derive from circadian conflict and desynchronization.
Keynote speaker: Andries Kalsbeek, Amsterdam
Poster Presentation in the evening
Dinner and get-together
15 March 2019 End 16:00 hours
Session 3:
The Neurovascular Unit in Obesity: It’s not all about neurons
The role of non-neuronal cells in the modulation of metabolism and obesity has recently gained increasing attention. Endothelial cells and astrocytes of the neurovascular unit act to deliver cytokines, nutrients, oxygen and carbon dioxide; indirectly mediating neuronal activity in response to these. Tanycytes of the third ventricle have been implicated in multiple neuronal and metabolic functions, interacting directly with neurons and the neurovascular unit.
This session will pay special attention to the non-neuronal cell types, focusing on endothelial cells, astrocytes, and tanycytes; elucidating how they may in turn regulate neuronal activity and behavior related to obesity and metabolism.
Keynote speaker: Cristina García Cáceres, Munich
Session 4:
Beyond the hypothalamus: novel targets in obesity
The hypothalamus is classically defined as the main brain area for the control of energy balance, regulating both energy intake and energy expenditure. However, a growing body of evidence is suggesting the previously unknown involvement of other brain regions, as well peripheral signals, in the regulation of energy homeostasis and obesity.
This session focuses on novel regions, compounds, and mechanisms in the regulation of energy balance, and in the development and maintenance of obesity.
Keynote speaker: Karolina Skibicka, Gothenburg
Session 5:
BAT: The right kind of fat
Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is known to be the main site of adaptive thermogenesis in mammals, acting to maintain core body temperature by burning metabolic substrates. Boosting energy expenditure by stimulating BAT activity seems to be promising as therapeutic strategy to tackle obesity and metabolic abnormalities. However, several aspects on molecular mechanism controlling energy expenditure and BAT activation are still unclear.
This session aims to further elucidate BAT physiology and function as well as mechanisms involved in thermogenesis and energy metabolism, with a special focus on the neuroendocrine pathways controlling cold-induced BAT activity.
Keynote speaker: Camilla Charlotte Schéele, Copenhagen
