Lipid Droplets

About This Grant

PROJECT SUMMARY Lipid Droplets (LDs) are rapidly emerging as critical adaptive organelles at the nexus of lipid metabolism and human disease. The 10th FASEB Summer Research Conference on "Lipid Droplets" will delve into this rapidly evolving field. As the primary cellular lipid storage organelles, LDs serve as vital hubs of lipid metabolism, influencing energy storage, lipid signaling, membrane biogenesis, and lipotoxicity. Pathological LD accumulation is a hallmark of metabolic diseases including obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes, fatty liver disease, lipodystrophy, cancers, cardiovascular diseases, and neurodegeneration. The growing prevalence of metabolic disorders in the United States underscores urgency to mechanistically understand the molecular underpinnings of LD formation, growth, movement, and turnover. Understanding LD biology promises novel therapeutics and is thus of high interest to scientists in academic, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology sectors. This conference will take place from July 26 to 30, 2026, in Scottsdale, AZ, USA. It will co-locate with the FASEB SRC Phospholipids conference, and include three keynote addresses from lipid metabolism leaders: Dr. Hugo Bellen (Baylor College of Medicine, HHMI), Dr. Elina Ikonen (University of Helsinki), and Dr. Bruno Anthonny (CNRS). As the longest-running meeting solely focused on LD biology, it will feature a multi- disciplinary speaker line-up focused on leading-edge research in basic and clinical science. The conference format comprises eight sessions featuring talks by invited speakers, 15 short talks selected from submitted abstracts, two poster sessions (together with the FASEB SRC Phospholipid conference), a Career-Oriented Workshop, and Meet-the-Experts sessions. Its trainee-focused environment has been carefully crafted to foster interactions between trainees, early career investigators, and established researchers. Scientific sessions will span the entire spectrum of LD biology. Distinguished researchers will deliver talks spanning many approaches (biophysics, genetics, biochemistry, cell biology, physiology) and cutting-edge technologies (chemical biology tools, lipidomics, new imaging approaches) in a range of model systems (cultured cells, Drosophila, yeast, C. elegans, mice, humans). A primary aim of this conference is to nurture and empower the next generation of scientists. To that end, we seek funding to support the participation of 15 graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and early career investigators. The conference's informal and trainee-oriented setting will provide numerous opportunities for planned and spontaneous informal interactions, affording young investigators the chance to present their work, obtain valuable feedback from leaders in the field, and receive career guidance. In closing, this conference stands as the pioneering international gathering dedicated exclusively to lipid droplet biology and its profound relevance to human diseases. It continues to serve as a unique and memorable forum for researchers to exchange ideas and share groundbreaking results.