This Nature Conference examines how energy metabolism in the brain impacts neurological function and disease. Recent technologies have expanded our understanding of metabolic processes among neurons, glia, and other brain cells, as well as the brain's role in whole-body metabolic homeostasis.
Over 20 leading experts investigating brain metabolism across multiple disciplines will convene to share findings and exchange ideas that are advancing this critical field.
Topics covered include:
• Research connecting neuroscience, metabolism, and systems biology
• Mechanisms of brain-periphery communication in energy regulation
• Fundamental aspects of brain metabolism and its implications for neurological diseases
• Methods for studying metabolic dynamics in the brain
• Collaborative approaches to solving complex questions in brain metabolism
This conference provides a platform for meaningful scientific exchange and networking with researchers driving progress in brain metabolism research. Join us in Saudi Arabia for this opportunity to connect with the global scientific community advancing our understanding of brain energy metabolism in health and disease.
Event details
3–5 December 2025
KAUST, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
In-Person Event
Speakers
Aiman Saab
University of Zürich, Switzerland
Aiman Saab is an SNSF Eccellenza Professor at the University of Zurich, investigating neuron–glia interactions, axon–glia communication, and metabolic resilience in the nervous system. His research has advanced understanding of how astrocytes and oligodendrocytes support brain energy metabolism, synaptic function, and long-term axonal health. He earned his PhD in Neurobiology from the University of Saarland and trained at the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine and the University of Zurich. He established his lab with support from the Cloëtta Foundation, the SNSF Eccellenza Professorial Fellowship, and most recently, the SNSF Consolidator Grant.
Alejandro San Martín
Universidad San Sebastián, Chile
Dr Alejandro San Martín is an Associate Professor and Principal Investigator at the Centro de Estudios Científicos and Universidad San Sebastián, Chile. His research integrates protein engineering, fluorescence microscopy, and optogenetics to interrogate cellular energy metabolism in real time. He pioneered the development of the first genetically encoded fluorescent biosensors for pyruvate (Pyronic and PyronicSF), lactate (Laconic and CanlonicSF), and the lactate-to-pyruvate ratio (Lapronic); these tools are now widely employed to study astrocyte–neuron metabolic coupling and cancer metabolism.
Ángeles Almeida
Universidad de Salamanca, Spain
Anne-Karine Bouzier-Sore
University of Bordeaux, France
Blanca Díaz Castro
University of Edinburgh, Scotland
I did my PhD in the laboratory of Dr. José López Barneo at the University of Seville. After a brief postdoc in Dr. Peter Penzes lab at Northwestern University, I joined Dr. Baljit Khakh’s lab at UCLA to investigate astrocyte biology and their roles in disease.
I started my lab at the University of Edinburgh and UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI) in 2019. We investigate how astrocytes interact with the brain vasculature and may act as a bridge between the periphery and the brain parenchyma. We focus on understanding the function of the astrocyte endfoot, a very specialized subcellular compartment that allows astrocytes to interact with the brain blood vessels, and how it communicates with the other cellular components of the blood-brain barrier in health and conditions that lead to cognitive decline. To address our questions we use mice, human tissue and a wide range of techniques like in vivo proteomics, RNA-seq, and imaging.
Bruno Weber
University of Zürich, Switzerland
Bruno Weber trained at the University of Zurich and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute in Tübingen before starting his own laboratory as an assistant professor back in Switzerland. He is now Full Professor and Director of the Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Zurich. His group uses a variety of imaging tools to study the neuron-glia-vascular communication pathways involved in energy metabolism and blood flow regulation in the cerebral cortex. Furthermore, his team is working to dissect the interaction of neurons and astrocytes with the vascular system, which is responsible for maintaining an adequate supply of oxygen and energy substrates to the brain. In addition to studying these systems, the group is also spearheading the development of imaging technology.
Carmen Sandi
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland
Carmen Sandi is Professor at the EPFL in Lausanne, where she heads the Laboratory of Behavioral Genetics. Her team investigates how brain mitochondria and metabolism regulate neural circuits underlying motivation, emotion, and stress responses. Using integrative approaches in rodents and humans, they examine individual differences in behavior and vulnerability to psychiatric disorders. She has served as President of the European Brain and Behavior Society (EBBS) and the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS), and currently chairs the Global Stress and Resilience Network.
Cristina Alberini
New York University, USA
Cristina García-Cáceres
Helmholtz Munich, Germany
I am currently a W2 Professor at LMU and serve as the Head of Research and Deputy Director at the Institute for Diabetes and Obesity at Helmholtz Munich. I earned my Ph.D. in Neuroscience in Madrid, Spain, and gained international experience through academic internships at Yale University and Göteborg University. I then pursued postdoctoral research at Helmholtz Munich and TUM, which laid the foundation for my current research.
My research is dedicated to uncovering the molecular mechanisms underlying obesity pathogenesis and other brain pathologies, with a particular focus on the hypothalamus's role in linking peripheral systems and the brain. This connection is crucial for regulating brain functions such as energy balance, behavior, and peripheral functions, including immune responses. Through my pioneering work, supported by the ERC Starting Grant, I demonstrated that the brain’s regulation of energy and glucose metabolism extends beyond specific neural circuits, implicating astrocytes as key players in these processes. Additionally, my research has revealed the previously unrecognized role of hypothalamic astrocytes in the development of obesity.
Gesine Saher
Max Planck Institute Göttingen, Germany
Dr. Gesine Saher
Project group leader “Biology of Lipids”, Department of Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine, now Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences (MPINAT), Goettingen, Germany
Postdoctoral fellow, Department of Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine, Goettingen, Germany
Project manager, Clinical Research / Oncology, Novartis Pharma GmbH, Nuremberg, Germany
PhD: Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Munich, Germany
Diploma: Biology, Technical University Braunschweig, Germany
Gilles Bonvento
CNRS Paris, France
Gilles Bonvento is Senior Research Director at INSERM and was until recently head of the Neurodegenerative Disease Laboratory (CNRS, University Paris-Saclay and CEA) in Fontenay-aux-Roses, France. He is now heading a research group at the Paris-Saclay Institute of Neuroscience (NeuroPSI). His main areas of expertise are astrocyte-neurons interactions, in vivo mouse models of neurodegenerative diseases, neuroimaging, therapeutic evaluation, energy metabolism and gene transfer in the CNS. His recent work has positioned metabolism as a direct regulator of synaptic activity, plasticity and memory. He has identified L-serine as a key amino acid produced by glycolysis in astrocytes, playing an important role in glutamatergic transmission.
Giovanni Marsicano
University of Bordeaux, France
Dr. Giovanni Marsicano is a tenured researcher at Inserm. He leads the group “Endocannabinoids and Neuroadaptation” at the NeuroCentre Magendie, an INSERM and University of Bordeaux Research Center devoted to neuroscience. Dr. Marsicano is a Veterinary Medicine Doctor as formation. After his diploma, he worked on research related to Embryonic Stem Cells from farm animals and to xenotransplantation models in Italy for 4 years. He then moved to the Max-Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich for a PhD student position with Beat Lutz, where he initiated the work on the role of type-1 cannabinoid receptors (CB1) and of the endocannabinoid system (ECS) in brain physiology, which has been his main research interest since. The subject of his PhD thesis was the generation of conditional mutants for CB1 and anatomical and functional studies on the mechanisms of action of the ECS. After PhD graduation in 2001, he made two post-doctoral periods in Germany and moved to Bordeaux in 2006 (recruited as Inserm senior scientist in 2007) to lead his independent research group. He is member of the SfN, the French Society of Neuroscience, the International Cannabinoid Research Society (ICRS), and he has been recently elected at EMBO and at FRM (Fondation de la Recherche Medicale). He received, among others, the IACM Young Investigator Award (2007), the Bettencourt-Schuller Price (2008), the Grand Prix Robert Debré (2015), and the prestigious Grand Prix Lamonica for Neurobiology (2021).
Gulcin Pekkurnaz
University of California, San Diego (UCSD), USA
Jaime de Juan-Sanz
Paris Brain Institute, France
Following his graduate studies in Molecular Neurobiology at the Center of Molecular Biology Severo Ochoa (Madrid, Spain), Jaime joined in 2013 the lab of Dr. Timothy A. Ryan at Weill Cornell Medical College for his postdoc where he worked on developing novel tools to study the role of presynaptic organelles in synaptic transmission. In 2019 Jaime was recruited as independent Team Leader at the Paris Brain Institute (France), where he currently leads a laboratory focused on developing cutting-edge optical tools to better understand the molecular mechanisms controlling synaptic transmission. His research is supported by the European Research Council (ERC), an ATIP-avenir grant (Inserm, CNRS, France), the Kavli Foundation, the French Agency for Research (ANR) and the Diane Barrière Chair in Synaptic Bioenergetics (Paris Brain Institute, France).
Joshua Rabinowitz
Princeton University, USA
Joshua Rabinowitz is Professor of Chemistry & Integrative Genomics at Princeton University and the founding Director of the Ludwig Princeton Branch. He brings a quantitative, chemical perspective to the study of diet, metabolism and disease. His research focuses on two broad questions: What are the quantitative concentrations and flows (fluxes) in metabolic pathways? How are they controlled? To address these questions, his lab develops innovative technologies that blend mass spectrometry, isotope tracers, and computational data integration. These technologies have been broadly applied to address major biomedical problems, including diabetes, infectious disease, and cancer. In the field of oncology, Dr. Rabinowitz contributed to the discovery of the cancer-causing metabolite, 2-hydroxyglutarate. More recently, his work found that lactate, classically considered a waste product, is actually a major circulating fuel. Ongoing work aims to advance quantitative measurement technologies for spatially resolved analysis of animal metabolism.
Juan C. Izpisua Belmonte
Altos Labs, USA
During life’s early stages cells display high levels of plasticity, regeneration and resilience against stress, dysfunction and injury, which are key features of human health. Dr. Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, previously the Roger Guillemin Chair and Professor at the Salk Institute, has contributed towards understanding the molecular basis underlying embryogenesis and early postnatal life, as well as gained insights into how to program and rejuvenate adult and diseased cells. He is developing technologies to program cells to states similar to those observed in the early, healthy stages of life, with the objective of developing universal health therapeutics to overcome human disease and aging.
Juan Pedro Bolaños
Universidad de Salamanca, Spain
Juan P. Bolaños studied Pharmacy at the University of Salamanca (USAL, Spain), where he performed a PhD in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology. He moved to the Institute of Neurology (London, UK) as an EU-funded Marie Curie Postdoc. He returned to USAL, became a lecturer, and then a full professor (2005). He received the Marie Curie Excellence Award in 2005 and the Castilla-León Research Prize in 2021. He is a senior and associate editor in several journals and has organized a dozen international conferences. He was the president of the European Society for Neurochemistry. He is interested in regulating the metabolic and redox coupling amongst the brain cells and its impact on behavior and neurological diseases.
Klaus-Armin Nave
Max Planck Institute Göttingen, Germany
L. Felipe Barros
Universidad San Sebastián, Chile
L. Felipe Barros qualified as a Medic in 1988 and got his Ph.D. in Sciences in 1993 at the Universidad de Chile, advised by David Yudilevich. From 1993 to 1996 he was a Postdoctoral Wellcome Trust Fellow in Steve Baldwin´s lab in Leeds, UK. From 1996 to 2000 he lectured at the University of Chile. He joined the Centro de Estudios Científicos -CECs, as principal investigator in 2000 (Director from 2025) and joined Universidad San Sebastián as Professor in 2022.
Leena Ibrahim
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia
Manu Goyal
Washington University, USA
Manu Goyal, MD, MSc, is a trained radiologist and neurologist who specializes in neuroimaging both in his clinical work and research. He has expertise in metabolic and vascular brain imaging, including with respect to the aging brain, Alzheimer's disease, and stroke. He runs a lab with Dr. Andrei Vlassenko that uses advanced PET imaging techniques with multiple radiotracers to investigate regional changes in human brain metabolism, including its use of glucose and oxygen, and in the context of aging and aging-related diseases. He also is a member of multidisciplinary teams to study brain metabolism and blood flow in vivo in mice using optical imaging.
Maribel Rios
Tufts University, USA
Dr. Maribel Rios is a Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts. She earned her Ph.D. in Cell, Molecular, and Developmental Biology from the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Tufts University, followed by postdoctoral training at MIT and the Whitehead Institute. Dr. Rios has a longstanding interest in neurotrophin biology, with a particular focus on the role of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in regulating neural circuits that control feeding, body weight, energy expenditure, and glucose homeostasis.
Navdeep Chandel
Northwestern University, USA
Navdeep S. Chandel (Nav) is the David W. Cugell Professor of Medicine, Biochemistry, and Molecular Genetics at Northwestern University. He received his BA in Mathematics and Ph.D. in Cell Physiology at the University of Chicago as well as a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Chicago. In 2000, he started his laboratory at Northwestern University on the concept of “Mitochondria as signaling organelles”. He has written a widely utilized introductory book entitled “Navigating Metabolism” (Cold Spring Harbor Press). He received the Clarence Ver Steeg Faculty Mentor Award in 2013, which recognizes faculty members from any department throughout Northwestern University for their outstanding mentorship of graduate students. In 2023, he was co-recipient of the FNIH Lurie Prize in Biomedical Science.
Pierre J. Magistretti
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia
Reyna Hernandez Benitez
Altos Labs, USA
Dr. Reyna Hernandez-Benitez, is a professional with expertise in biomedical sciences and management, Reyna holds a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from the National Mexican University UNAM. She also completed an MBA Program at UCSD's Rady School of Management in California. She dedicates her life to scientific research and practical management, currently in her position as Senior Scientist at Altos Labs, in San Diego California. Her former experience includes work in the research division of Children's Hospital of Michigan, and postdoctoral positions at KAUST at group of Dr. Pierre Magistretti and at Salk Institute of Biological Studies at Dr. Juan Carlos Belmonte group.
Sabrina Diano
Columbia University, USA
Dr. Sabrina Diano is the Robert R. Williams Professor of Nutrition, Director of the Institute of Human Nutrition and Professor of Molecular Pharmacology and Therapeutics and Physiology and Cellular Biophysics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. She is also an adjunct Professor at Yale University, Cellular and Molecular Physiology department.
She earned a Doctor of Biology degree in 1993 and a PhD in 1999 at the University of Naples “Federico II” in Naples, Italy.
She became faculty at Yale University in 2000, where she moved up the ranks. In September 2020, she moved to Columbia University to direct the Institute of Human Nutrition.
Her research has focused on deciphering intracellular mechanisms that enable brain (hypothalamic) cells to sense and respond to changes in circulating signals to control food intake and energy and glucose metabolism. Findings from her laboratory have unmasked mitochondrial mechanisms essential in regulating hypothalamic cell functions. By sensing and responding to changes in nutrient availability, hypothalamic cells can alter behavior and peripheral tissue functions to fine-tune systemic metabolism.
The results of her research have important implications for the pathogenesis of metabolic syndrome, obesity, and type 2 diabetes, disorders that are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the U.S. and the developed world in general, with the highest financial burden on the national economy.
Her studies on fundamental principles of metabolism regulation have been nationally and internationally recognized. She has been featured in the Women in Metabolism 2015 series: The “Rosies” of Cell Metabolism, the 10th year anniversary celebrations of Cell Metabolism, featuring influential women in metabolism research. In 2015, she was awarded the Novo Nordisk Foundation Laureate Award in Denmark, which she declined. She received the Helmholtz Diabetes Award 2018 from the Helmholtz Society in Germany for her studies on central control of glucose metabolism. Most recently, she was elected as an honorary Fellow of the AAAS. Her studies have been published in high-impact journals, including Nature, Science, Cell, Nature Medicine, Nature Neuroscience, Cell Metabolism, Diabetes, JCI, and PNAS, and her research program has been continuously supported by the National Institute of Health.
Stefanie Schirmeier
Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
Stefanie Schirmeier graduated from the University of Bayreuth (Germany) obtained her Ph. D. form the University of Strasbourg (France), where she worked in the team of Dominique Ferrandon.
After her doctoral training she moved to the University of Münster (Germany) for a postdoctoral position, joining Christian Klämbt’s team and later establishing her own research group. Stefanie focused on investigating the physiology and metabolism of glial cells and uncovered their conserved role in neuronal metabolic support.
Since 2021, Stefanie has been a professor at Dresden Technical University, where she leads the Department of Zoology and Animal Physiology. Her research team investigates metabolic mechanisms in the Drosophila nervous system and the ability of brain energy metabolism to flexibly adapt to changing circumstances.
Vincent Prevot
INSERM Lille, France
I am currently a Research Director of Exceptional Class at Inserm (the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research) and have led the "Development and Plasticity of the Postnatal Brain" laboratory at the Lille Neuroscience & Cognition Research Center in Lille, France, since 2007. My research primarily focuses on the central control of energy homeostasis and the neurobiology of reproduction. Among my pioneering studies is the discovery that tanycytes, specialized ependymoglial cells lining the floor of the third ventricle, transport circulating metabolic signals such as leptin and anti-obesity drugs across brain barriers into the hypothalamus to regulate energy homeostasis. Additionally, we have demonstrated the crucial role of tanycytes as sensory detectors in the metabolic brain, “sniffing out” metabolic and hormonal signals such as glucose and estrogens, and conveying this information to POMC and NPY neurons, respectively—cells that otherwise cannot directly sense these signals—to modulate their activity.
George Brooks
University of California, Berkeley, USA
George A. Brooks, Ph.D. is Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Brooks is a Fellow of the American Physiological Society (APS), American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), and European College of Sports Science (ECSS). From athletics and exercise and altitude physiology research George A. Brooks developed the Lactate Shuttle concept. Lactate shuttling has three functions; lactate is a fuel energy source, the main gluconeogenic precursor, and a signaling molecule with autocrine, paracrine and endocrine functions. Endurance training develops the capacities to produce, remove and utilize lactate as a fuel energy source. Lactate is favored as a fuel by working red muscle, heart, liver and brain. Moreover, from extant data related to the Hepatic Glycogen Paradox, it was possible to educe that a Postprandial Lactate Shuttle plays a major role in dietary carbohydrate metabolism. As a result of new understanding lactate is used to provide metabolic support to endurance athletes and as an extracellular fluid replacement (e.g., dehydration, hypovolemia, hemorrhage), metabolic acidosis, heart failure, myocardial infarction, inflammation and Dengue. As well, lactate supplementation being evaluated to treat, traumatic brain injury and sepsis. A notable exception to lactate efficacy is cancer where lactate shuttling needs to be blocked. In his lecture Brooks will inform about Lactate Shuttle theory and encourage others to translate theory into practice.
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