Plenary programme

Mahmood Hussain

USA

Since becoming an Assistant Professor in 1991, my laboratory has been studying lipid absorption and lipoprotein assembly. My laboratory has developed several methods and models to study chylomicron assembly and secretion. We studied secretion of lipids with chylomicrons and showed that newly synthesized triglycerides are preferentially secreted with chylomicrons. We described mechanisms for the absorption and transport of vitamins A and E. We have shown that there are two pathways (apoB–dependent and apoB–independent) involved in cholesterol absorption. Further, we have documented the importance of MTP, ABCA1, ACAT2, apoAI, and apoAIV in these pathways.

I have been working on MTP for more than twenty-five years.  Since MTP is an essential chaperone for the assembly of chylomicrons, we have paid much attention to its role in lipoprotein assembly. We studied protein-protein interactions between apoB and MTP, demonstrated two independent functional domains that carry out lipid transfer and apoB binding activities in MTP, and discovered that binding of MTP to lipid vesicles enhances its binding with apoB. We showed that MTP was evolved as a phospholipid transfer protein and acquired triglyceride transfer activity during a transition from invertebrates to vertebrates. Also, we provided molecular and biochemical explanations for some missense mutations found in abetalipoproteinemia subjects. We have developed new assays to measure MTP activity using fluorescent lipids. In addition, we showed that MTP transfers phospholipids onto CD1d. In short, I have a long history and demonstrated expertise to study MTP, lipid absorption, and lipoprotein assembly and secretion. This grant pertains to unraveling the importance of two different lipid transfer activities of MTP in lipoprotein assembly and hepatic lipid homeostasis. In addition, we will explain the role of adipose-specific MTP functions in the regulation of adipose triglyceride metabolism. We have previously studied the role of MTP in the liver and intestine, thus have significant experience in studying tissue-specific roles of MTP.

We revealed that lipid absorption is regulated by circadian rhythms and disruptions in these rhythms cause hyperlipidemia and enhance atherosclerosis in mice. We have also identified a novel regulator, Ire1β, of intestinal lipid absorption. We showed that Ire1β regulates MTP expression in the intestine involving post-transcriptional degradation of mRNA.

Over the years, I have published 159 peer-reviewed papers and 51 reviews. I have served as the principal investigator on several NIH and AHA grants over the past 25 years. I have managed research groups consisting of visiting scientists (10), clinical fellows (9), junior faculty (3), postdoctoral fellows (28), graduate students (14, including 6 MD,PhD students), rotating students (21), under graduate students (18), and technicians (7), and have ample experience in hiring, training, safety, budget etc. Moreover, I have collaborated with several national and international researchers and produced several peer-reviewed publications.

Bertrand Cariou

France

Prof Bertrand Cariou, MD, Ph.D. is the director of l’institut du thorax, a joint structure (1,000 staff) in translational research dedicated to cardiac, vascular, and metabolic diseases based in Nantes, France. Since 2013 he is leading a multidisciplinary research team working on dyslipidemias and cardiometabolic diseases with complementary expertise in the fields of animal physiology, cellular biology, genetic and multi-omics approach. He is also leading the Clinical Investigation Center (CIC) in Endocrinology, Diabetology & Nutrition at l’institut du thorax to develop high-level translational research, highlighted by his recognized expertise on PCSK9 and familial hypercholesterolemia. He recently coordinated the national research program RHU CHOPIN, an ambitious nationwide program (involving 9 academic teams and 4 industrial partners) aiming at improving the management of hypercholesterolemia. He is also the co-coordinator of the FHU GO-NASH, a multidisciplinary network aiming at improving the medical management of patients with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). He has co-authored more than 335 peer-reviewed articles in the field of hypercholesterolemia, type 2 diabetes, MASH and cardiovascular prevention.

Daniela Carnevale

Italy

Daniela Carnevale graduated in Biological Sciences at Sapienza University and completed her training in Neuroimmunology at the Italian Institute of Health, receiving her PhD in Neuroscience in 2010. Recruited at IRCCS Neuromed as PostDoc, in 2012 she joined Sapienza University as Assistant Professor. Associate Professor and Head of the Research Unit of Neuro and Cardiovascular Immunology in 2018, she was appointed Full Professor in 2020 through direct call by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research for winning a high-level research grant (European Research Council ERC SymPAtHY). Author of 69 publications in highly qualified journals, Prof. Carnevale is Associate Editor of Cardiovascular Research and Editor of the Early Career Section of Hypertension. Funded by various granting agencies, Carnevale was awarded nearly 5 million € from national and international granting agencies in the last 10 years. Her research focuses on elucidating how the nervous system modulates the immune response involved in hypertension and related cardiovascular diseases.

Sander Kersten

USA

Sander Kersten, Ph.D. is the director of the Division of Nutritional Sciences and the Schleifer Family Professor at Cornell University.  Dr. Kersten received his MSc degree in Human Nutrition from Wageningen University in 1993, and his Ph.D. degree in Nutritional Biochemistry from Cornell University in 1997. After a postdoctoral stay in the laboratory of Dr. Walter Wahli at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, he moved back to Wageningen University in 2000 with a career development grant from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was appointed to Associate Professor in 2006 and Full Professor in 2011. In 2014 he became Chair of the Nutrition, Metabolism and Genomics group and in 2019 Chairman of the Division of Human Nutrition and Health at Wageningen University. He joined Cornell in January 2024.

Research in his group aims to elucidate the molecular mechanism that underlies the regulation of lipid metabolism in the liver and adipose tissue during fasting and feeding. In the past, his group demonstrated the importance of the transcription factor PPARα in the metabolic response to fasting in the liver. Using various human liver model systems in combination with transcriptomics, his work also revealed the importance of PPARα in gene regulation and nutrient metabolism in the human liver. In addition, his team elucidated the mechanism responsible for the regulation of fat uptake into adipose tissue during fasting. Specifically, his group discovered the protein ANGPTL4 and elucidated its role as a crucial regulator of lipid uptake into adipose tissue by interfering with the function of lipoprotein lipase. His current research is concentrated on identifying the role of several novel fasting-regulated genes in lipid metabolism in adipose tissue and the liver.

Pradeep Natarajan

USA

Dr. Pradeep Natarajan is the Director of Preventive Cardiology and the Paul and Phyllis Fireman Endowed Chair in Vascular Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Associate Member of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. He received his BA in molecular biology with Honors and Phi Beta Kappa in 2004 from the University of California, Berkeley. He received his MD with Alpha Omega Alpha in 2008 from the University of California, San Francisco. He received his MMSc in biomedical informatics in 2015 from Harvard Medical School. Dr. Natarajan completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 2011. He completed his clinical and research fellowship in cardiovascular medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital in 2015.
Dr. Natarajan uses germline and somatic genetic variation to uncover new biology and enable enhanced clinical care for cardiovascular disease. He leads several consortia to use genetic epidemiology, large-scale sequencing studies, genotype-driven human investigation, and genetic testing implementation. He is an Associate Editor for JAMA Cardiology and Science Advances. His research program spans the MGH Cardiovascular Research Center, MGH Center for Genomic Medicine, and Broad Institute Cardiovascular Disease Initiative.

Dr. Natarajan is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, Fellow of the American Heart Association, and Elected Member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation. He has received several awards for his contributions, including most recently the Jeffrey M. Hoeg and Joseph A. Vita Awards from American Heart Association.
In tandem his research efforts, Dr. Natarajan oversees clinical and training programs on the prevention of cardiometabolic diseases leading the MGH Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Center.

Giovanna Liuzzo

Italy

Professor Giovanna Liuzzo is Associate Professor of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Sciences and of the PhD Course in Cellular and Molecular Clinical Research at the Catholic University School of Medicine in Rome, Italy. She is the director of the Acute Coronary Syndrome Unit and of the Cellular and Molecular Cardiology Lab at the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli-IRCCS in Rome.
Professor Liuzzo’s main research interest is in the study of pathophysiology of ischemic heart disease with particular attention to the role of inflammation, immunity, infectious agents, and their link with plaque rupture and thrombosis. She has given an important contribution in the field by inspiring the shift in the paradigm that plaque formation, growth and complication is a mere effect of cholesterol accumulation. More recently, she has developed new concepts on the genetic and epigenetic regulation of the inflammatory and immune response in coronary instability. Translational studies by professor Liuzzo contributed to propose a pathogenetic classification of acute coronary syndrome aimed to develop a personalized diagnostic algorithm and therapeutic approach. She has received prestigious awards as young scientist. She is a fellow of the Italian Society of Cardiology and of the European Society of Cardiology.
Professor Liuzzo has authored numerous research articles in prestigious cardiovascular, peer-reviewed, international journals, has lectured at major international congresses and Universities worldwide and has been a reviewer for many top scientific journals and international cardiovascular research programs. She is Associate Editor of the European Heart Journal.
Professor Liuzzo received grant support (to the Institution) for investigator-initiated research from American Heart Association, Italian National Health Service and Italian Minister of Education, University and Research. She is currently involved in the Research Programs of the Italian Cardiovascular Network.

Samia Mora

USA

Professor Samia Mora is a cardiologist and molecular epidemiologist conducting translational research in the prevention of cardiometabolic disease, with a focus on lipid and inflammatory mechanisms of cardiovascular disease. She is Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Director of the Center for Lipid Metabolomics, Divisions of Preventive and Cardiovascular Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts. She received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University and her medical degree from Harvard Medical School. Professor Mora completed an internal medicine residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and cardiovascular disease fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where she also obtained an MHS degree (Epidemiology) from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is board certified in cardiovascular disease and echocardiography, and is a Fellow of the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, and American Society of Echocardiography. She serves on the Editorial Board of JAMA Internal Medicine and is Associate Editor of Atherosclerosis. She is an Elected Member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of University Cardiologists and is Treasurer and Member of the Executive Board of the International Atherosclerosis Society.

Erik Stroes

The Netherlands

Prof Erik Stroes is a vascular internist with a longstanding track of research in the field of lipidology, inflammation and atherosclerosis. He is leading the lipid-clinic at AmsterdamUMC in the Netherlands. He has co-authored more than 520 peer-reviewed articles in the field of atherogenesis, (familial) hypercholesterolemia and cardiovascular prevention. He is chair of the Dutch foundation aiming to optimize screening for familial hypercholesterolemia (LEEFH) and involved in several landmark trials in cardiovascular patients.