Meeting report A burst of energy in metabolic disease research Jaswinder K Sethi Address: Department of Clinical Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2QR, UK. E-mail: jks30@ comment Published: 27 May 2004 Genome Biology 2004, 5:327 The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at © 2004 BioMed Central Ltd reviews Molecular control of adipogenesis and obesity A report on the ‘Diabetes Mellitus’ and ‘Adipogenesis and Obesity’ joint Keystone Symposia, Banff, Canada, 4-10 March 2004. Gary Ruvkun (Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA) highlighted the fact that important lessons for human disease can be learnt from the. | Meeting report A burst of energy in metabolic disease research Jaswinder K Sethi Address Department of Clinical Biochemistry University of Cambridge Addenbrooke s Hospital Hills Road Cambridge CB2 2QR UK. E-mail jks30@ Published 27 May 2004 Genome Biology 2004 5 327 The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at http 2004 5 6 327 2004 BioMed Central Ltd A report on the Diabetes Mellitus and Adipogenesis and Obesity joint Keystone Symposia Banff Canada 4-10 March 2004. The genomic era has injected a fresh burst of energy into the study of complex metabolic diseases. Over 900 delegates congregated at the foothills of the Rockies in Banff Canada to learn about the latest developments in research into obesity and the commonly associated disorder type 2 diabetes mellitus. Allen Spiegel National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases National Institutes of Health Bethesda USA kicked off the line up and introduced the major initiatives that the National Institutes of Health NIH have recently established to support diabetes and obesity research. These include the establishment of large-scale multidisciplinary collaborative efforts that combine and coordinate information generated from genomics proteomics stem-cell biology and bioinformatics. In particular members of the following consortia were well represented by the speakers at the meeting the Beta Cell Biology Consortium and Endocrine Pancreas Consortium http EPConDB the Diabetes Genome Anatomy Project http the Nuclear Receptor Signaling Atlas http and the Mouse Metabolic Phenotyping Centers http . Other initiatives that are clearly beginning to make an impact on diabetes and obesity research include the identification of obesity genes in invertebrates and interdisciplinary research bridging neurobiology and behavioral science. Some of the major new developments that .
