On 3 and 4 February, we welcomed a group of respected researchers from the Helmholtz Pioneer Centre and Helmholtz Diabetes Centre all the way from Munich, Germany to the De Vere Holborn Bars in the City of London, to launch the very LMS-Helmholtz Metabolism Meeting. They were also joined by our own group heads from the MRC LMS and colleagues from Department of Bioengineering, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction at Imperial College London.

The meeting was organised by Peter Norsworthy; our Research Grants Coordinator, the Genes and Metabolism Research Section chair Irene Miguel-Aliaga and Director Amanda Fisher from the MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences (LMS), Thomas Schwarz-Romond from the Helmholtz Pioneer Campus, and Stephan Herzig from the Helmholtz Diabetes Centre.

The two-day meeting was spent sharing innovative research and developments within the areas of metabolism, physiology and biomedical engineering, with the aim of fostering future collaborations across these European organisations.

Packed with enthralling presentations given by the attendees, the meeting covered a wide spectrum of topics in six sessions spread across the two days. The first session with talks on ‘Metabolic sensing, imaging and engineering’ kicked off the event – followed by sessions covering ‘The genomics and epigenomics of metabolism’, ‘Cellular physiology and pathophysiology’, ‘Organ physiology and pathophysiology’, ‘Inter-organ signalling in physiology and disease’, and ultimately ending with the theme of ‘Leveraging data for discovery’. A list of speakers can be found in the agendas below:

This was a great opportunity for all the researchers to be introduced to the vast array of techniques and experiments that others have been working on, to seize the chance to work with them and share tools and techniques.

We hope to see exciting new collaborations emerge between the Institutes in the future, which will continue to strengthen and uphold our international collaborative relationships. It is undeniable that bringing together a great diversity of thinking and efforts will seed ground-breaking contributions, discoveries and ideas for the promising future of scientific discussion and research.

“We are hoping that this event is the beginning of many fruitful collaborations. Nurturing our international outlook and links will be key to our continued research excellence and success as an Institute.” – Irene Miguel-Aliaga

Written by Emily Jin