Science Summit 2026: Networked for Life: Nuclear Receptors in Age-related Diseases
21 September 2026
15:00-15:45
Registration
15:45
Opening Remarks by Science Summit Planning Committee
- Inés Pineda-Torra, PhD: Distinguished Principal Investigator, CABIMER, Seville, Spain; Honorary Professor of Cardiometabolic Medicine, University College London, London, UK
- Mercedes Ricote, PhD: Associate Professor, National Centre for Biotechnology (CNB-CSIC), Madrid, Spain
- Donald P. McDonnell, PhD: Glaxo-Wellcome Distinguished Professor of Molecular Cancer Biology, Duke Cancer Institute and Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC
- Christopher K. Glass, MD, PhD: Professor and Director, Green Center for Reproductive Biology Sciences, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX
16:00-17:30
“From Signal to Action: The Molecular Dialogue in Women’s Hormone Regulation”
- “Advances in Targeting Nuclear Receptors for Cancer Treatment- Obesity Related Breast Cancer”
- Myles A. Brown, MD: Director of the Center for Functional Cancer Epigenetics, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
- “Molecular and Genomic Mechanisms of Estrogen Signaling, Enhancer Formation, and Gene Regulation”
- W. Lee Kraus, PhD: Professor and Director, Green Center for Reproductive Biology Sciences, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX
- “Progesterone Signalling in Action”
- Carol A. Lange, PhD: Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology; Associate Director for Basic Science, Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
17:30-18:15
Bright Sparks Session
18:15
Welcome Reception
22 September 2026
09:30-11:00
“Orchestrating Tissue-Specific Metabolic Adaptations”
- “The Mother of Metabolism - ESR1 in the Control of Mitochondrial Form and Function”
- Andrea L. Hevener, PhD: Professor of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Hypertension, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
- “Nuclear Receptor Crosstalk in Metabolic Control”
- Karolien De Bosscher, PhD: Professor, Department of Biomolecular Medicine, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- “Using Regulators of Cholesterol Homeostasis to Shift Tumour Immunology”
- Erik R. Nelson, PhD: Professor of Molecular & Integrative Physiology; Keith W. and Sara M. Kelley Endowed Professor of Immunophysiology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL
11:00-11:30
Coffee break & Networking
11:30-13:00
“Molecular Switches, Major Impacts: Decoding Hormone Regulation in Immunomodulation”
- “Arterial Protection by Estrogens: A Matter of Age?”
- Coralie Fontaine, PhD: Research Director, Inserm; Institut des Maladies Métaboliques et Cardiovasculaires (I2MC), Toulouse, France
- “The LXR-CD38 axis in Inflammation and Metabolism”
- Annabel Valledor, PhD: Associate Professor, Department of Cell Biology, Physiology and Immunology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- “Glucocorticoid activation of anti-inflammatory macrophages protects against insulin resistance”
- Jan Tuckermann, PhD: Professor and Director, Institute of Molecular Endocrinology and Physiology, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany
13:00-14:30
Lunch and Networking
14:30-15:15
Bright Sparks Session II
15:15-17:00
Poster Session I & Network
17:00- 19:00
“Next-Gen Hormone Networks: Insights on Age-Related Diseases”
- Nuclear Receptor Epigenomics in Cancer; From Trials to Mechanisms and Back Again”
- Wilbert Zwart, PhD: Senior Group Leader, Division of Oncogenomics, The Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI); Professor of Functional Genomics in Oncology, Eindhoven University of Technology, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- “The Role of Nuclear Receptors and Pioneer Factors in Cancer Metastasis”
- Jason S. Carroll, PhD: Professor of Molecular Oncology, University of Cambridge; Senior Group Leader, Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, Cambridge, UK
- “LSD1 Inhibition Circumvents Glucocorticoid-Induced Muscle Wasting”
- Delphine Duteil, PhD: Inserm Researcher, Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire (IGBMC), Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France
- “Hepatic Nuclear Receptor Circuitries Governing Homeostasis and Pathogenesis”
- Henriette Uhlenhaut, PhD: W3 Professor and Chair for Metabolic Programming, TUM School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich (TUM); Director, Institute for Diabetes and Endocrinology, Helmholtz Munich, Munich, Germany
23 September 2026
9:00-11:00
“Orphans & Adopted: The Not so New Kids on Block”
- “Nur77 is Orphan but not Lonely”
- Caroline J.M. de Vries, PhD: Professor of Medical Cell Biochemistry, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- “PPARgamma and adipose tissue plasticity”
- Susanne Mandrup, PhD: Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; Director of the Center of Excellence in Functional Genomics and Tissue Plasticity (ATLAS), University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
- “Circadian Regulation of Organismal Metabolism By REV-ERB Nuclear Receptors”
- Mitchell A. Lazar, MD, PhD: Willard and Rhoda Ware Professor in Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases; Director of the Penn Diabetes Research Center and Founding Director of the Institute for Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
- “PPARalpha Regulates Hepatic Proteostasis”
- David D. Moore, PhD: Professor, Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology, Department of Metabolic Biology & Nutrition, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
11:00-11:30
Coffee break
11:30-12:30
“Inflammation Reloaded: Nuclear Receptors at the Crossroads of Inflammation and Resolution”
- “Transcriptional and Epigenomic Programming of Macrophages”
- Inez Rogatsky, MSc, PhD: Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Weill Cornell Medicine; Senior Scientist, Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, NY
- “NR5A2/LRH-1 in Immune Tolerization and Wound Healing Resolution”
- Benoit R. Gauthier, PhD: Principal Investigator, Andalusian Center for Molecular Biology and Regenerative Medicine (CABIMER), Seville, Spain
12:30-13:00
Bright Sparks Session III
13:00-14:00
Lunch and Networking
14:00-16:00
Poster Session II and Networking Break
16:00-18:00
“The Endocrine Revolution: Novel Therapeutic Approaches”
- “PPAR Discovery Pipelines"
- Robert Sims, PhD: Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder, Flare Therapeutics, Cambridge, MA
- “THRb in MASH and Liver Fibrosis”
- Rebecca Taub, MD: Founder, Board Director, and Senior Scientific and Medical Advisor, Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, Conshohocken, PA
- “The Multimerization Pathways of the Androgen and Glucocorticoid Receptors Reveal Novel Druggable Sites”
- Eva Estébanez-Perpiñá, PhD: Associate Professor and Research Group Leader, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biomedicine, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- “Nuclear Receptor Targeting in Prostate Cancer: Challenges and Opportunities”
- Scott M. Dehm, PhD: Professor, Apogee Enterprises Professorship in Cancer Research, Masonic Cancer Center and the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
18:00-19:30
Special Topic Roundtable:
“The New Wave: Charting the Course for Future Nuclear Receptor Discovery”
This session will explore emerging trends and future directions in nuclear receptor research.
All speakers
20:30
Gala Dinner
