Dr. Jay H. Chung is a senior investigator and chief of the Laboratory of Obesity and Aging Research in the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Chung’s primary research interest is in understanding how aging decreases our ability to burn calories and generate energy. This aging-related metabolic decline plays an important role in the development of obesity and obesity-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. As a world-leading scientist, Dr. Chung is working to understand the key molecular mechanisms by which aging leads to metabolic decline.
At this symposium, Dr. Chung will discuss how aging affects AMPK activity and mitochondrial function and propose novel therapeutic strategies to reverse the agingeffect.

Prof. Paolo Sassone-Corsi is director of the Center for Epigenetics and Metabolism, School of Medicine at University of California, Irvine. He is also an external member of the Max Planck Society, one of the world’s most prestigious scientific groups. Prof. Sassone-Corsi’s major interest is concentrated on the mechanisms of signal transduction able to modulate nuclear functions and, in particular gene expression, chromatin remodeling and epigenetic control. These events have important consequences for the understanding of cellular proliferation, oncogenesis and differentiation. The strength of these studies is particularly evident within physiological settings which have been investigated by his lab, the molecular control of circadian rhythms and epigenetic control. At this symposium, professor Sassone-Corsi will discuss about the intimate links between cellular metabolism, epigenetics and the circadian clock.