Exploring the Role of the Liver in Diabetes
This year’s theme, “Diabetes and Liver Health”, highlighted the growing understanding that the liver plays a central role in conditions such as type 2 diabetes and obesity. Sessions looked at how the liver communicates with other organs – particularly the brain – and at new approaches to treatment.
Special attention was given to metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), a condition once known as fatty liver disease, which is becoming increasingly common worldwide.
Global Experts Share Insights
In the Keynote Lecture, Prof. Giles Yeo (University of Cambridge) presented “Mapping Feeding Circuits in the Human Brain”, providing insights into how the brain regulates appetite and energy balance.
On the final day of the conference, notable scientific achievements and presentations were recognized with awards:
The Helmholtz Diabetes Lecture Award was presented to Prof. Philipp Scherer (University of Texas Southwestern) for his talk “Hormonal Harmonies: Adipocytes as Conductors in the Weight Loss Orchestra”, which showcased how fat cells regulate metabolism through hormone signaling.
The Helmholtz Young Investigator in Diabetes (HeIDi) Award, which recognizes promising early-career leaders in diabetes research, was awarded to Dr. Marc Schneeberger Pane (Yale University) and Dr. Atul Shahaji Deshmukh (University of Copenhagen) for their significant contributions.
The Helmholtz Best EMBO J Flash-Talk Award went to Dr. Isabel Reinisch (ETHZ) and Valentina Dorta (CiMUS) for delivering the most outstanding short presentation of the conference.
The Best Poster Award was presented to Cristina Mencias Castillejo (Helmholtz Munich) for her innovative and impactful research poster.
The program also featured internationally recognized researchers, including Prof. Jeffrey Friedman (The Rockefeller University), Prof. Bruce Spiegelman (Harvard University), Prof. Guadalupe Sabio (CNIO), Prof. Bart Staels (University of Lille), and Prof. Michael Roden (German Diabetes Center). Their presentations covered topics from the molecular mechanisms of insulin resistance to emerging therapeutic strategies for obesity and liver disease.
Fostering Global Collaboration
“By bringing together leading experts in diabetes, liver and metabolism research as well as drug development, we are laying the groundwork for more effective strategies to prevent and treat these diseases,” said Prof. Stephan Herzig, conference host and Director of the Helmholtz Diabetes Center (HDC) at Helmholtz Munich.
Prof. Anja Zeigerer, co-organizer from the Medical Faculty Mannheim at Heidelberg University and Helmholtz Munich, added: “With metabolic disorders on the rise worldwide, this conference underscores the importance of understanding liver function and its interplay with diabetes to develop effective interventions.”
