Our inaugural symposium was held on 16 February 2017 at the UCL Institute of Child Health, featuring the work of UCL researchers as well as international invited speakers.
Through keynote presentations, three sessions of short talks, and several lively discussions, the group addressed the impact of culture on human metabolic health and biodiversity, and the connections between social, clinical, and biological investigations of metabolism.
Graphic recordings and live illustrations of symposium discussions by Chris Shipton
Talks Included:
Introductions by Frances Brodsky, UCL Division of Biosciences Director, and David Price, UCL Vice Provost (Research)
Steve Simpson, Academic Director, Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney - Putting the Balance Back in Diet: The Nutritional Geometry of Metabolic Disease
Present: where are we now?
Michael Duchen, UCL – Mitochondrial biology in health and disease
Nishi Chaturvedi, UCL – Ethnic differences in insulin resistance
Paul Chadwick, UCL – The role of behaviour change in metabolic health
Joanne Santini, UCL – Arsenic metabolism: from microbes to humans
Mariia Yuneva, Francis Crick Institute – Metabolic lessons learnt from in vivo cancer models
Mark Miodownik, Director, Institute of Making, UCL – The Taste of Spoons and Other Inedible Objects
Past: how did we get here?
Markus Rasler, Francis Crick Institute – Metabolism and the origins of life
Rebecca Hardy, UCL – Tracking the development of overweight and obesity across generations
Sue Hamilton, UCL – Culture and metabolism: lessons from the past for the present
Mark Thomas, UCL – Diet, evolution, and adaptation
Filipe Cabreiro, UCL – Drugs, bugs, and us: a multi-layered metabolic connection
Future: where do we go next?
Jonathan Wells, UCL – The fundamental relationships between nutrition, power and health
Richard Pearson, UCL – Biodiversity, ecosystem services and sustainable food systems
Linda Partridge, UCL – Ageing and nutrition
Alex Gould, Francis Crick Institute – Coping with a stressful start in life
Robert Biel, UCL – Sustainable food systems
Hannah Landecker, Director, Institute for Society and Genetics, UCLA – From Food as Fuel to Nutrition as Information: Metabolism and Society, 1839 to Now
Graphics Presentation – Chris Shipton, Live Illustration