‘Metabolism and Metabolic Diseases’ – Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute Annual Symposium

Posted on: 18 April 2013

The Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute (TBSI) hosted a special symposium titled ‘Metabolism and Metabolic diseases’ on Monday, April 15th. In this wide-ranging conference, a number of diseases were discussed including parkinson’s disease, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, sepsis and cancer, the particular focus being the role of metabolism in these diseases.

Metabolism is the process whereby we absorb food and use it to generate energy but also to provide the building blocks for life, keeping the body healthy, as well as defending it at a time of infection. It is a burgeoning area of research and when it goes wrong it can drive many diseases. Trinity has a long standing interest in metabolism, carrying out pioneering work on the nutrient folic acid as a preventive for spina bifida. TBSI celebrated this legacy with international and local speakers contributing.

During the conference a recent major breakthrough in how the immune system burns food by Professor of Biochemistry Luke O’Neill, Academic Director of TBSI, was outlined that could lead to better treatments for type 2 diabetes and sepsis.

Speakers at the symposium included Professor Gregory A. Petsko, Arthur J. Mahon Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience at Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, speaking  on parkinson’s disease, Grahame Hardie, Professor of Cellular Signalling at the University of Dundee, discussed diabetes, Paul Browne, Professor of Haematology at TCD and Consultant Haematologist and Director of the National Adult Stem Cell Transplant Programme at St. James’s Hospital Dublin spoke on stem cells, and Dr Lawrence Brody, Senior Investigator, Genome Technology Branch at the National Human Genome Research Institute National Institutes of Health USA covered neural tube defects.

Other speakers included Professor and Director of the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University, Patrick Stover.   The Stover research group investigates the mechanisms that underlie the relationships between metabolism and human pathologies including neural tube defects, cardiovascular disease and cancer, Professor Isabel Rozas of School of Chemistry, TCD, whose current research interests include anticancer and antidepressant drug design and synthesis, and Professor Jeremy  K. Nicholson, Head of the Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London whose research addressed molecular aspects of multiple diseases with a particular interest in optimising translational medicine for patient safety and healthcare delivery.