Abstract

Obesity affects over 17% of adults in Europe and it is one of the most important predisposing factors for type 2 diabetes and additional associated conditions referred collectively as the metabolic syndrome, which includes elevated blood pressure, high lipid levels, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and cardiovascular disease. The overall goal of this EMBO Workshop is to provide the most important and up-to-date research in the field of metabolism. The workshop will focus on understanding the recent progress in adipocyte biology (cell fate and browning), liver metabolism including steatosis and the role of the central nervous system in the control of the energy homeostasis. Special emphasis will be done to highlight the importance of the organ crosstalk and how signaling pathways in one tissue could affect the metabolism in other tissue. The goals of this EMBO Workshop are to provide important new insights into the primary pathogenesis of these disorders, and especially focus on those that might lead to new therapies.