FASEB SRC: The Molecular Metabolism Conference: From Cell Biology to Systems Physiology - Summary
Deb Muoio, Jeff Elmendorf and David Guertin are pleased to co-chair the next Federation of American Societies
for Experimental Biology (FASEB) conference on “on “Molecular Metabolism: From Cell Biology to Systems
Physiology.” The event will be held at Oak Island Resort & Conference Centre, Nova Scotia, Canada, during
the week of August 7-11, 2022. This marks a new venue and an expanded theme for one of the longest-running
and best-regarded meetings in the FASEB SRC series, historically focused on glucose transporters, insulin
signaling and glucose homeostasis. The conference was originally launched in 1993 in recognition of the cloning
and characterization of a subset of the major glucose transporter isoforms. Over the ensuing years, the meeting
has continued to feature important advances in glucose transporter biology, but also evolved to embrace new
topics in metabolic control mechanisms as they relate to chronic diseases and conditions such as obesity,
diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer.
The 2022 conference will provide a lively mix of cell biology, nutrient sensing and signaling, metabolic regulation,
and systems biology methods, and multiple lectures that feature interorgan crosstalk and disease translational
themes. A particular focus will be the interplay between energy metabolism and the biology of cellular organelles
such as mitochondria, autophagosomes and lipid droplets, thereby linking primitive cellular processes to whole-
body regulation of glucose and energy homeostasis. The meeting will also include sessions on tissue-specific
control mechanisms (e.g. adipose, liver, gut, muscle) as well as the role of interorgan crosstalk in modulating
glucose homeostasis. The themes of the meeting are well-aligned with challenges faced by the pharmaceutical
and biotech industries in identifying new therapeutic targets that combat tractable disease mechanisms.
We have invited approximately 32 scientists from institutions and companies worldwide to speak at the meeting,
as well as an additional dozen prominent scientists to serve as session chairs and discussion leaders. In addition
to these speakers we will be selecting approximately 16 short talks from abstracts to be presented by junior
trainees. We will also run several poster sessions, and continue two very well-received events launched at
previous meetings; a "speed-dating" session to facilitate networking and encourage student participation from
the very beginning of the meeting; and an “open mike” session of approximately 2 hours to allow volunteers to
present particularly exciting data for discussion, with about 10 minutes per speaker. We will also hold a career
development workshop focusing on the use of social media platforms in science.
