Type 2 Diabetes, Insulin Resistance and Metabolic Dysfunction (J1) 2011

Modern technology has created a favorable climate for the perfect metabolic storm . Triggered by lifestyle habits that promote overnutrition and inactivity, Westernized societies are confronting an epidemic surge in the incidence of obesity and its attendant co-morbidities. Foremost among these is type 2 diabetes mellitus, which is projected to reach a global incidence of 300 million cases by the year 2020. This grim epidemiological forecast has inspired intense efforts to unravel the molecular mechanisms that link increasing adiposity to glucose intolerance and metabolic failure. This Diabetes meeting will assemble international leaders and rising stars in diverse biomedical disciplines with common interests in understanding and combating cardiometabolic diseases. The program showcases recent advances in the molecular etiology of obesity-related functional impairments in the major peripheral organs that orchestrate energy flux and glycemic control: skeletal and cardiac muscle, adipose tissue, the liver and the pancreas. Thematic emphasis will center on lipid signaling and lipotoxicity, nutrient sensing, mitochondrial energetics, circadian biology and epigenetics. A major goal of the meeting is to provide a forum that encourages interactions between basic and translational scientists at all career levels to critically evaluate new developments and current controversies. Opportunities for interdisciplinary interactions will be further enhanced by the concurrent meeting on Obesity and Adipogenesis , which will share two Keynote Speakers and three plenary sessions with the Diabetes meeting.