The Adipose Biology session explores adipose tissue not merely as an energy storage organ, but as a dynamic system that closely interacts with metabolic, immune, and neural networks. Professor Li Qiang presents the concept of depot-specific targeting of adipose tissue, highlighting functional heterogeneity among fat depots and its therapeutic implications. Professor Hei Sook Sul provides an in-depth overview of the transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of thermogenesis, elucidating key regulatory axes of energy metabolism. Professor Chan Hee Lee proposes mechanisms by which psychological stress engages hypothalamic–adipose neural circuits to improve immune and metabolic homeostasis. Together, this session spans molecular mechanisms to neuro-immune networks in adipose biology, offering an integrated perspective for understanding metabolic diseases and developing novel therapeutic strategies.

Physiological adaptation to nutrient excess or metabolic stress cannot be fully explained by any single organ and is best understood through coordinated interactions among metabolic tissues. In this session, three speakers will present recent advances across diverse models and analytical scales, highlighting how cross-tissue signaling and fuel flux are integrated to govern whole-body energy homeostasis and the pathogenesis of obesity and diabetes. Attendees will gain insights into cross-tissue metabolic integration and emerging opportunities for therapeutic intervention.

This session highlights cutting-edge advances in immunometabolism, elucidating how the immune system shapes metabolic homeostasis in the context of aging and obesity. Prof. Liheng Wang will offer a new perspective on how noncanonical functions of IgG contribute to inflammatory responses and metabolic regulation in aged and obese settings. Prof. Kae Won Cho will discuss adipose tissue dendritic cells as pivotal orchestrators of obesity-driven inflammation and insulin resistance, focusing on the key signaling axis involved. Prof. Jun Young Hong will provide an integrated view of how immune-parenchymal crosstalk in brown adipose tissue drives metabolic remodeling under thermoneutral conditions. Collectively, these presentations will explore immune-tissue microenvironment networks as a conceptual and translational foundation for identifying therapeutic targets and future intervention strategies for metabolic disease and aging.

This session focuses on stress-induced pancreatic β-cell responses that shape the development of diabetes. Three distinguished speakers will review β-cell stress–driven islet autoimmunity in type 1 diabetes, protective compensatory mechanisms in human islets from obese individuals, and organelle stress underlying β-cell dysfunction in diabetes. Through this session, the audience will be provided molecular insights into β-cell dysfunction during diabetes pathogenesis.