On Tuesday, 11 June 2024, the Novo Nordisk Foundation will host a symposium with the aim of bringing together the research community for an exciting afternoon of knowledge sharing and networking, with the ambition to facilitate research partnerships and lay the seeds for realising creative solutions and new technologies within the 2025 Challenge Programme theme:
Ectopic fat & CMD
At the symposium there will be exciting speakers invited as well as short talks on different topics and participants can enjoy nice food and networking.
Programme
12:30 – 13:00 Coffee and registration
13:00 – 13:10 Welcome by Arne Astrup, Senior Vice President, Novo Nordisk Foundation
13:10 – 13:40 Keynote Speaker: Professor Antonio Vidal-Puig, University of Cambridge
13:40 – 14:10 Keynote Speaker: Hannele Yki-Järvinen, University of Helsinki
14:10 – 14:30 Coffee Break
14:30 – 16:00 Short talks from submitted abstracts
• Resolving Cell-Type-Specific Metabolic Landscapes by Spatial Mass Spectrometry
Nils Færgeman, University of Sourthern Denmark
• Extracellular vesicles Biomarkers in Ectopic Fat Accumulation – Liquid Biopsies for Early
Detection and Real-Time Monitoring of Metabolic Disorders
Carlos Salomon, The University of Queensland
• Exploring ectopic fat dynamics and related tissue-specific circulating extracellular
vesicles by comprehensive omic-analysis
Aase Handberg, Aalborg University Hospital
• Circulating microRNAs associated with metabolic disease
Louise Dalgaard, Roskilde University, Denmark
• The mismatch between low birthweight and carbohydrate overfeeding in the
development of type 2 diabetes
Allan Vaag, Lund University
• A role of the incretin GIP in regulating adipose tissue homeostasis?
Mette Rosenkilde, University of Copenhagen
16:00 – 16:25 Coffee Break
16:25 – 17:55 Short talks from submitted abstract
• Dissecting the role of liver fat as a marker or cause of metabolic dysfunction in humans
Faidon Magkos, University of Copenhagen
• Exploring Ectopic Fat and Cardiometabolic Diseases Troughout Life
Signe Torekov, University of Copenhagen
• Decoding weight gain defense mechanisms: A critical foundation for treatment of
cardiometabolic disease
Christoffer Clemmensen, University of Copenhagen
• Genetic loci that uncouple adiposity from its cardiometabolic comorbidities provide
evidence for diverse underlying mechanisms
Nathalie Chami, The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Genomic Mechanisms of
Disease, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT
• Linking cardiovascular and metabolic disorders-the role of white adipose tissue
Mikael Ryden, Karolinska Institutet
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• Unraveling the Mysteries of SAT Dysfunction in MASLD: Insights from BMI-discordant
MZ Twins and Novel Interventions
Kirsi Pietiläinen, University of Helsinki
17:55 – 18:00 Closing remarks by Mads Fiil Hjorth, Senior Scientific Lead, Novo Nordisk Foundation
18:00 – 20:00 Cocktail dinner
Workshop venue:
Novo Nordisk Foundation – Tuborg Havnevej 19 – 2900 Hellerup
2025 Challenge: Ectopic fat & CMD
The challenge is to understand causal factors in the development and consequences of ectopic fat accumulation, identifying novel targets and precision medicine strategies in disease prevention and treatment with a human-centric point of departure. The programme should through basic and applied research have a special focus on disruptive and innovative approaches to tackle the challenge and should include novel state-of-the-art technologies such as large-scale omics and imaging techniques (e.g., CT and MRI) allowing for non-invasive quantification.
We encourage applicants to focus on data representing diversity both in relation to gender, ethnicity, and associated conditions. The programme does not focus on the prevention or treatment of obesity per se, but the understanding of how ectopic fat cause adverse health effects and how this disease risk can best be reduced (with/without weight loss). Hence, the effects of weight loss, diets and physical activity could be studied for mechanistic understanding of disease modification.
Supported research may include but is not limited to:
- Identifying and understanding underlying genetic and acquired mechanisms that cause ectopic fat accumulation in various tissues.
- Understanding how ectopic fat causes adverse health effects (local and humoral mediators).
- Understanding the beneficial effects of weight loss, physical activity and specific diets on ectopic fat accumulation and disease (e.g., T2DM & CVD) modification.
- Research aimed at subgrouping based on measures of ectopic fat for precision risk assessment and treatment strategies.
