The Kern Lipid Conference, first held in 1985 and held annually since then, focuses on the interactions between lipid metabolism and chronic human disease states, spanning atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, and liver disease. Since its inception, the overall goals of the have continued to be: 1) promoting science relating to broad areas of lipid metabolism; 2) increasing understanding of the pathobiology of dyslipidemia; 3) providing an open forum for scientists from both academia and industry to meet and discuss the latest research findings related to lipid metabolism; 4) ensuring at least 25% of meeting participants are early career scientists (graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and Assistant Professors); and 5) providing a unique meeting format in which 50% of the time is devoted to formal presentations and 50% is for open discussions of the presentations. The 2017 Kern Lipid Conference, entitled ?The Gut Microbiome, Bile Acids, and Regulatory Networks in Health and Disease: Emerging Therapeutic Approaches? continues this impressive tradition and will be held August 7-9, 2017 at the Vail Marriott Mountain Resort in Vail, CO. The Conference will be co- chaired by Jacob Friedman, Margrit Schwartz, and Michael Trauner. The meeting will provide a forum for discussing novel pathways within the microbiome space that cross-talk with cardio-renal and liver diseases including bile acids and their sequelae, and how new pathways and tools are being used to understanding these pathways and translated into new therapies for important and intractable disorders such as steatohepatitis. Salient features of the meeting include four scientific sessions with prominent speakers, three poster sessions, and a roundtable discussion involving accomplished scientists from academia and industry. The four speaking sessions will address; 1) Connections and Cross-talk with the microbiome; 2) Liver Diseases-GI, NASH, Cholestasis; 3) Cardiovascular and Kidney disease; and 4) CNS and Gut Cross-Talk. Well-defined mechanisms for encouraging the participation of young scientists (including presenting prestigious awards to early career participants), a structure that facilitates interaction and discussion through both formal and informal means, and the confirmed participation of internationally recognized authorities makes it likely that novel insights leading to potential new translational approaches for microbial-related disease will emerge from the 2017 Conference.
The discovery of the microbiome in the last decade has led to an explosion of new research across many different fields, but particularly within metabolism, nutrition, and diseases affecting the liver, kidney, cardiovascular and GI systems. In addition, bile acids, one of the first topics of the Kern Conference 40 years ago has enjoyed a real renaissance, sparked by the identification and their recent development and emergence in numerous chronic diseases in humans. Our understanding of how microbes can produce substances that cross-talk with tissues and organs, and are intimately involved in their metabolism is currently being exploited by numerous small and large pharma concerns. Leading scientists will present cutting edge research about how microbes and bile acids affect one another and affect cardio-renal, liver, and the cardiovascular system, and will address how the microbial products and inflammation can be manipulated therapeutically in new ways that may treat common metabolic conditions including liver and kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.
