2026, 21 - 23 September, Munich
13th Helmholtz Diabetes Conference
The 13th Helmholtz Diabetes Conference will be organized by Stephan Herzig (Helmholtz Diabetes Center), with Antje Körner and Raffaele Teperino as co-organizers. The conference will focus on the theme “Diabetes Across the Lifespan”.
The sessions will explore key topics covering the entire lifespan, ranging from early life development to aging, including disease mechanisms, metabolic regulation, and therapeutic approaches in diabetes research.
This year's lecture award will be received by Juleen Zierath.
The 13th Helmholtz Diabetes Conference will be organized by Stephan Herzig (Helmholtz Diabetes Center), with Antje Körner and Raffaele Teperino as co-organizers. The conference will focus on the theme “Diabetes Across the Lifespan”.
The sessions will explore key topics covering the entire lifespan, ranging from early life development to aging, including disease mechanisms, metabolic regulation, and therapeutic approaches in diabetes research.
This year's lecture award will be received by Juleen Zierath.
Stephan Herzig
is Scientific Director of the Helmholtz Diabetes Center (HDC) and the Institute for Diabetes and Cancer (IDC). His lab investigates the molecular mechanisms of diabetes and develops novel, organ-specific compounds to counteract insulin resistance, glucose tolerance and other components of the metabolic syndrome. In addition, he explores the association between cancer development and metabolic dysfunction.
Antje Körner
is Head of the Childhood Obesity and Metabolic Research Group at the Helmholtz Institute for Metabolic, Obesity and Vascular Research (HI-MAG). Her research focusses on what drives obesity and metabolic complications in children and to apply mechanistic insights from integrated experimental, clinical-epidemiological, experimental and genetic studies for more precise risk prediction and treatment of childhood obesity and diabetes.
Raffaele Teperino
is Head of the Environmental Epigenetics Group at the Helmholtz Institute of Experimental Genetics (IEG). His lab investigates how epigenetic mechanisms regulate metabolism and contribute to obesity, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes. In addition, he explores how environmental factors shape metabolic health across generations and develops epigenetic-based strategies to prevent and treat metabolic diseases.
12th Helmholtz Diabetes Conference
The 12th Helmholtz Diabetes Conference was held from September 22–24, 2025, for the first time in the new Helmholtz Conference Center in Munich, with a special focus on diabetes and liver health, covering topics from obesity and insulin resistance to MASLD, liver metabolism, and inter-organ communication.
11th Helmholtz Diabetes Conference
The 11th Helmholtz Diabetes Conference had a special focus on 'Wasting Metabolism' and covered various focal topics, including metabolism and cardiovascular diseases, molecular mechanisms in cachexia, diabetes and insulin resistance, biology of the pancreas, obesity, clinical metabolic research and therapeutics, and endocrinology.
10th Helmholtz Diabetes Conference
The 10th Helmholtz Diabetes Conference was held from September 27-29th, 2023, at the Künstlerhaus, Munich, Germany. This 10th edition centered on fostering the next generation of exceptional researchers in the diabetes field.
9th Helmholtz Diabetes Conference
The 9th Helmholtz Diabetes Conference took place as a hybrid event in September 26-29., 2022 at the Künstlerhaus, Munich, Germany. This 9th edition of the conference focused on the latest therapies in diabetes, in particular to dual agonists, pharmacology and systemic control of metabolism.
8th Helmholtz Diabetes Conference
The 8th Helmholtz Diabetes Conference took place virtually from May 10-12, 2021, broadcasted from the Helmholtz Diabetes Center in Munich, Germany. While the conference in general aims to cover all the major topic areas in the field of diabetes, particular attention was directed to the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms involved in the development of diabetes.
7th Helmholtz Diabetes Conference
The 7th Helmholtz Diabetes Conference took place September 23-25, 2019 at Palais Lenbach, Munich, Germany. While the conference in general aims to cover all the major topic areas in the field of diabetes, particular attention was directed to the metabolic connection between cancer, diabetes and other components of metabolic dysfuntions.
6th Helmholtz Diabetes Conference
The 6th Helmholtz Diabetes Conference took place September 26-28, 2018 at Palais Lenbach Munich. Key topics at the 2018 conference were systemic approaches to diabetes and both genetic and epigenetic aspects of the disease, as well as the influence of fatty tissue on the metabolism. In addition, participants discussed new insights into feelings of satiety and the influence of the brain on the metabolism. Further information please find here.
