Fat for purpose - new insights into the role of adipose tissue in physiological control systems
Metabolism & Endocrinology
Organiser
Michael E Symonds (The University of Nottingham, UK) 
Synopsis 
Speakers
Karine Clément (Inserm, Paris, France)
Toward obesity: from genetics to functional genomics?
James A Levine (Endocrine Research Unit, Rochester, USA)
Activity and body composition – a NEAT relationship
Peter Arner (Karolinska University, Sweden)
Fat cells – size versus volume and their relative contributions to obesity
Michael E Symonds (The University of Nottingham, UK)
Adipose tissue and blood pressure control – how does fat impact on cardiac-vascular function?
Christian Dani (Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, France)
Stem cells and the origins of adipocytes
Synopsis
The obesity epidemic marches on relentlessly despite substantial research and related efforts to combat its tide within both the public and private sectors. Obesity is caused by excess fat growth and within this context adipocytes are arguably the most diverse and adaptive cells in the body for a variety of reasons:
- They have the ability to increase in number and size at an almost exponential rate.
- They can do this in almost any organ of the body and as such can be considered to be several different populations of cells i.e. those that form large distinct masses of fat e.g. in the perirenal-abdominal or subcutaneous regions or in contrast are found between other cell types e.g. within skeletal or cardiac muscle.
- The growth and development of each adipose tissue site has a specific and variable pattern of growth for which this complexity is further confounded by different populations of brown and white adipocytes in some but not all sites.
This symposium will thus cover novel approaches to our understanding of adiposity including a focus on how its function may vary greatly between tissues and this ultimatley impact on a range of physiological control systems. Overall the symposium will emphasise the vibrant and very exciting developments within the obesity discipline that are currently on-going and may ultimately lead to sustainable intervention strategies that are based on a "life-course" approach.
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