Obesity and the Metabolic Syndrome: Mitochondria and Energy Expenditure joint with Liver Metabolism and Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) Organizer(s): Johan Auwerx, Eleftheria Maratos-Flier and Thomas Langer Date: March 22 - 27, 2015 Location: Fairmont Chateau Whistler, Whistler, BC, CanadaA medical challenge of the 21st century is the coupling of an unprecedented increase in life expectancy with a large increase in incidence and prevalence of chronic multifactorial diseases. Classic disease examples include disorders of metabolism such as obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus, which are often associated with co-morbidities including non-alcoholic liver disease and coronary, peripheral and central vascular disease. Collectively, the spectrum of disorders is often referred to as the metabolic syndrome. Over the past decade, it has become evident that shifts in cellular metabolism are often linked to changes in the number, morphology and function of mitochondria, and that these cellular changes underlie systemic metabolic abnormalities that characterize the many clinical features of the metabolic syndrome. This meeting will discuss novel findings that link mitochondrial function in peripheral tissues, such as liver, muscle and gut, with the systemic abnormalities of the metabolic syndrome. The potential for identifying new therapeutics that are based on modifying mitochondrial function will be reviewed. As mitochondrial function is now acknowledged to also control metabolic homeostasis on an organismal level in addition to controlling energy homeostasis at the cellular level, this meeting will create a truly interdisciplinary environment that brings together basic scientists in the fields of bioenergetics, physiology, and mitochondrial and cell biology, and clinicians with an interest in metabolic disease, to foster innovative ideas in this area. Scholarship Deadline: November 20 2014 Discounted Abstract Deadline: November 20 2014 Abstract Deadline: December 18 2014 Discounted Registration Deadline: January 21 2015 |