Systems Biology of Lipid Metabolism (B4)

Lipid homeostasis is fundamental to maintain health. Due to enormous functional and structural diversity of lipids as well as because of their complex regulation at multiple spatial and temporal scales, lipids need to be studied not only at the level of biological pathways but also at the level of the biophysical systems they are part of including cellular membranes or lipoprotein particles. From the perspective of systems biology, this adds an additional but necessary layer of complexity to the studies of lipids. This meeting will cover recent progress and perspectives in the studies of lipids as related to: 1) Cellular, as well as, systemic lipid metabolism; 2) Computational modeling of lipids; and 3) Role of lipids in the pathogenesis of several complex diseases including metabolic, immune and central nervous system disorders as well as cancer. Specifically, experts in this area will address whether alterations in lipid biology may be an important underlying pathogenic link among these disorders, which could explain the well documented metabolic co-morbidities such as between obesity and several other complex diseases. The meeting will bring together a highly interdisciplinary outstanding group of scientists including biochemists, molecular and cellular biologists, clinical researchers and computational biologists. Such a diverse setting will facilitate the cross-disciplinary interactions needed to address current key questions in lipid biology in the context of translational medicine as well as move the field of lipids forward by consolidating the use of system approaches to study their involvement in the pathogenesis of common diseases.