2nd Adipose Biology Conference 2026

The second annual Adipose Biology Conference (ABC2026) was held October 7–9, 2026, at the Centre Mont-Royal in Montreal, Canada. Building on the success of its inaugural meeting, the conference brought together an international community of researchers, clinicians, and trainees to share groundbreaking discoveries, foster scientific collaboration, and advance our understanding of adipose biology and metabolic health.

The three-day scientific program featured presentations from leading investigators across North America, Europe, and Asia, highlighting advances in adipose tissue development, thermogenesis, metabolic regulation, cellular signaling, and emerging therapeutic strategies for obesity and metabolic disease. The conference featured a plenary keynote by John Speakman, along with invited presentations exploring fundamental mechanisms and translational applications in adipose biology.

Three distinguished researchers were recognized with the conference's major awards:

ABC Award: John Speakman (Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, University of Aberdeen)
Jean Himms-Hagen Award: Susanne Mandrup (University of Southern Denmark)
Leslie P. Kozak Award: Ormond MacDougald (University of Michigan)

With approximately 175 registered participants and 100 poster presentations, ABC2026 provided an engaging platform for scientific exchange, mentorship, and collaboration. Poster sessions highlighted innovative research from emerging scientists, while trainee poster awards and travel awards recognized outstanding early-career contributions to the field.

The meeting was co-organized by Lawrence Kazak, Ph.D. (McGill University), Jacqueline Beaudry, Ph.D. (University of Toronto), and Hoon-Ki Sung, M.D., Ph.D. (SickKids Hospital), with continued support from conference partner Sable Systems International and contributing sponsors.

The 2026 conference further strengthened its position as an international forum for adipose biology research, building lasting connections across scientific disciplines and inspiring new opportunities for discovery, innovation, and collaboration in metabolic health.

Figure 1: ABC Class of 2026.

Figure 2: ABC Award presented to John Speakman by conference

organizers.

2026 Honorees

John Speakman

Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology,

University of Aberdeen

ABC Award

Susanne Mandrup

University of Southern Denmark

Jean Himms-Hagen Award

Ormond MacDougald

University of Michigan

Leslie P. Kozak Award

Poster Awards:

Adipocyte Poster Award: Hualin Wang, Mina Ersin

ABC Poster Awards: Skylar L. Nahi, Patricia Guadalupe Castro

ABC Award

To be announced

Dr. Jean Himms-Hagen Award

(PMID: 35373586) held initial faculty appointments at the University of Manitoba and Queen’s University and then an Associate Professor in the department of Biochemistry at the University of Ottawa. She has left a legacy of scientific rigor in physiology, cell biology and metabolism. Dr. Himms-Hagen was the first to show that post-10 minutes injection of noradrenaline increased whole body energy metabolism in rats that were cold-acclimated, and this effect was greatly diminished in room temperature housed rats. Her pioneering research in adipose biology continued throughout her career. Notably, she was among the first to propose that perhaps impaired brown fat thermogenesis could contribute to an obesogenic phenotype.
In her honour, we are pleased to recognize one of our speakers with an award that celebrates outstanding contributions to the field of adipose biology.

Dr. Leslie P. Kozak Award

(PMID: 37794563) held a Senior Staff Scientist position and served as Deputy Director at The Jackson Laboratory (JAX). At Jax, he studied glycerol phosphate dehydrogenase and lipid metabolism where his lab became very interested in the uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1). His contributions include cloning the complementary DNA for UCP1 and designed a mouse model to inactivate UCP1’s function. After 28 years at JAX, Dr. Kozak left for a position at Pennington Biomedical Center of Molecular Genetics in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to work on the molecular mechanisms of thermogenesis and effects on body weight. He relocated to Poland as a Professor at the Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food reach in Olsztyn and then ended his career as a Visiting Scientist at the Main Medical Center Research Institute in Scarborough Maine. Dr. Kozak made ground-breaking discoveries about UCP-1-dependent and independent mechanisms of adaptive thermogenesis and genes regulating adipogenesis in adipose tissue. Dr. Kozak was a leader in the field in exploring mechanisms that underlying energy expenditure, with important implications for understanding obesity. In his honour, we are pleased to recognize one of our speakers with an award that celebrates outstanding contributions to the field of adipose biology.

Editors

Patrick

Patrick Schaefer

Cell Press, Amsterdam, NH, The Netherlands

Scientific Editor

Patrick received his PhD at Ulm University, Germany, investigating mitochondrial function in Alzheimer’s disease using NADH autofluorescence imaging with Prof. Dr. Christine von Arnim. He moved on to join Prof. Dr. Douglas C. Wallace at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for a postdoctoral fellowship studying mitochondrial disorders. Patrick focused on the impact of mitochondrial variants on exercise physiology and adaption with the goal of evaluating exercise as a therapeutic intervention in mitochondrial disorders. He joined Cell Metabolism in 2022.

The Nature Metabolism

Senior Editor

Revati Dewal

Revati joined Nature Metabolism in November 2023. She completed her Ph.D. in Physiology and Cell Biology from The Ohio State University, studying adipose tissue and exercise as therapeutic strategies against cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. She then joined the Laboratory of Translational Nutritional Biology at ETH Zurich as a postdoctoral researcher to study the converging and diverging effects of age, diet and sex on adipose tissue cellular composition and function. Revati is based in the Berlin office.

Our Sponsors

This conference is possible due to the generosity of our sponsors.