Session 1. Early nutrition programming, life performance and cognitive function

Michael Symonds is Professor of Developmental Physiology, Head of the Child Health Division at the School of Clinical Science, and Director of the Centre for Reproduction and Early Life (CREL) at the University of Nottingham, UK. His research program focuses on the impact of maternal nutrient restriction on placental and fetal growth with respect to the long term consequences for adult diseases, obesity and adipose tissue development. He works with large animal models such as the sheep and the pig.

Mostyn A, Symonds ME. Early programming of adipose tissue function: a large-animal perspective. Proc Nutr Soc. 68(4):393-400, 2009.

Berthold Koletzko is Professor for Pediatrics and Head of the Metabolic Disease and Nutrition Group at the Dr. von Hauner Children's Hospital, University of Munich, Germany. His research focuses on metabolism and nutrition during pregnancy, nursing and childhood, on early nutritional programming of health, and on fat metabolism and obesity in humans. He is coordinator of the Early Nutrition Programming Project (EARNEST), funded by the EU, and director of the Early Nutrition Academy (ENA).
Koletzko B. et al. 2009. Lower protein in infant formula is associated with lower weight up to age 2 y: a randomized clinical trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 89(6):1836-1845, 2009.

Session 2. Metabolic flexibility in humans and animals

Abdul Dulloo is heading the Laboratory of Nutritional Energetics and Body Composition Regulation in the Department of Medicine (Physiology) at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. He uses molecular-physiological approaches for understanding the role of variations in metabolic efficiency (thermogenesis) in the regulation of body weight and body composition, and in elucidating their importance in the origin of cross-links between tissue/organ lipotoxicity, insulin resistance and cardiovascular diseases.
Dulloo AG. Thrifty energy metabolism in catch-up growth trajectories to insulin and leptin resistance. Best Pract Res Clin Endocrinol Metab. 22: 155-71, 2008.

Juan J. Loor is Assistant Professor in the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Illinois, USA. His research deals with the question how nutrition, physiological state and their interaction affect tissue genomic and metabolic adaptations, with cattle and swine being the main research models. A primary research aim of his laboratory is to study genomic adaptations in tissues in response to dietary fatty acids (e.g., CLA) and amino acids. A further interest is the determination of nutrient-regulated genes in specific tissues, and the investigation of potential genotype-based diets in farm animals.
Loor J.J. et al.  Nutrition-induced ketosis alters metabolic and signaling gene networks in liver of periparturient dairy cows. Physiological Genomics 32:105-116.

Session 3. Appetite regulation

Hans-Rudolf Berthoud is Professor at the Department Neurobiology and Nutrition at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, USA. He is interested in the role of the nervous system in the processes maintaining energy homeostasis and nutrient intake. This includes the receptors and pathways that allow the peripheral nervous system and the brain to sense the internal metabolic state and availability of important nutrients as well as the neural circuits integrating this information, and the behavioral, autonomic, and endocrine effector pathways leading to regulatory actions.
Shin AC, Zheng H, Berthoud HR. An expanded view of energy homeostasis: neural integration of metabolic, cognitive, and emotional drives to eat. Physiol Behav. 97:572-80, 2009.

Michael S. Allen is Professor at Department of Animal Science, Michigan State University, USA. His research integrates digestion and metabolism in ruminants, emphasizing the effects of metabolic fuels on energy intake and partitioning. The Allen laboratory evaluates chemical and physical characteristics of diets on type, temporal absorption, and physiological effects of fuels using lactating cows as our primary animal model. Response variables include feeding behavior, site of digestion, endocrine response, gene expression in various tissues, tissue mobilization/accretion, and yield of milk and milk components.
Allen M et al. The hepatic oxidation theory of the control of feed intake and its application to ruminants. J Anim Sci. 87: 3317-34, 2009.

Session 4. Nutritional compounds for optimized healthspan and life performance

Nathalie Le Floc´h is a research scientist at INRA UMR SENAH (Joint Research Unit on Livestock Systems, Animal and Human Nutrition) in Saint Gilles, France. She is a specialist in amino acid metabolism in swine and the research focus is on splanchnic (gut/liver) amino acid metabolism. Further interests are specific amino acid requirements associated with the inflammatory and/or the immune response and the impact of genetics on amino acid metabolism.
Le Floc'h N et al. The effect of sanitary status degradation and dietary tryptophan content on growth rate and tryptophan metabolism in weaning pigs. J Anim Sci. 87(5):1686-94, 2009.

Gerald Rimbach is Professor of Food Science and Director of the Institute of Human Nutrition and Food Science, Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel, Germany. Prof. Rimbach´s main research interest centres on mechanistic studies regarding the role of oxidants and antioxidants in redox-dependent gene expression and chronic inflammation. Furthermore his group is systematically investigating ApoE genotype – diet interactions in cultured cells, laboratory rodents and humans in the context of healthy ageing.
Jofre-Monseny L, Minihane AM, Rimbach G. Impact of apoE genotype on oxidative stress, inflammation and disease risk. Molecular Nutrition and Food Research 52(1):131-145, 2008.