PROGRAMME

Registration and welcome speech (at around 19.00)
NB. Today's events are held at the Academy Building;
the following days will be at the Ottone.

Symposium 1
Melanocortin genetics

Chair: Greg Barsh (San Francisco, CA, USA)

Helgi Schiöth (Uppsala, Sweden)
Evolution of the melanocortin receptors and Agouti related peptides

Hopi Hoekstra (Cambridge, MA, USA)
Adaptive mutations of Agouti and Mc1r in rodents

Jose Cerda-Reverter (Torre de la Sal, Spain)
Fish melanocortin system

Anne White (Manchester, UK)
Epigenetic changes in pro-opiomelanocortin in fetal hypothalamic feeding centres
occur as a consequence of maternal undernutrition (short talk)

Coffee Break

Symposium 2
Melanocortin physiology

Chair: Roger Cone (Nashville, TN, USA)

Andrew Butler (Baton Rouge, LA, USA)
Adropin - a new peptide identified from analyzing melanocortin knockouts linking
calorie intake with energy homeostasis

Roger Cone (Nashville, TN, USA)
MC3-R ablation creates Cushing's Syndrome in the mouse

Michael Humphreys (San Francisco, CA, USA)
Cardiovascular effects of melanocortins

Silvana Obici (Cincinnati, OH, USA)
Regulation of glucose metabolism via the hypothalamic melanocortin system

Linh Vong (Boston, MA, USA)
Melanocortin-4 receptors on glutamatergic, but not on oxytocin or CRH neurons
regulate feeding in mice (short talk)

Lunch Break & Poster Session 1

Symposium 3
Peripheral actions of melanocortins

Chair: Adrian Clark (London, UK)

Li Chan (London, UK)
Effects of melanocortins on adrenal gland physiology

Pablo Enriori (Victoria, Australia)
The role of the MC5 receptor in muscle

Greg Barsh (San Francisco, CA, USA)
Genetics and genomics of melanocortin pigment patterns: from Akitas to Zebras

Li Zhang (Skillman, NJ, USA)
A melanocortin-5 receptor antagonist inhibits differentiation of human sebaceous glands and production of sebum-specific lipids (short talk)

Tea Break

Symposium 4
Human melanocortin genetics

Chair: Stephen O′Rahilly (Cambridge, UK)

Johannes Hebebrand (Essen, Germany)
The impact of MC4 receptor mutations

Ruth Loos (Cambridge, UK)
The genetic epidemiology of melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R) variants

Adrian Clark (London, UK)
The genetics of ACTH insensitivity

Rick Sturm (Brisbane, Australia)
Human MC1R genetics and model systems

Bassil Kublaoui (Philadelphia, PA, USA)
Postnatal Sim1 deficiency causes hyperphagic obesity and reduced Mc4r and Oxytocin
expression (short talk)

End of day's sessions; free evening

Symposium 5
Chemical biology of melanocortin ligands

Chair: Carrie Haskell-Luevano (Gainesville, FL, USA)

Glenn Millhauser (Santa Cruz, CA, USA)
Yet even more ligands, structures and modes of action at the melanocortin receptors

Victor Hruby (Tucson, AZ, USA)
Design of novel MC receptor ligands

Carrie Haskell-Luevano (Gainesville,FL, USA)
Ligand-receptor interactions that differenitate mMC3R agonist
versus antagonist receptor pharmacology

Julien Sebag (Nashville, TN, USA)
A high-throughput screen for allosteric modulators of the MC4-R (short talk)

Min Chen (Bethesda, MD, USA)
Effects of deficiency of the MC4R-coupled G protein (Gsα) on energy homeostasis
(short talk)

Coffee Break

Symposium 6
Functional neuroanatomy of the melanocortin system

Chair: Joel Elmquist (Dallas, TX, USA)

Dominic Withers (London, UK)
AMP kinase action in melanocortin neurons

Jens Bruening (Cologne, Germany)
Signal integration in Arcuate Nucleus POMC/AgRP-Neurons

Richard Palmiter (Seattle, WA, USA)
Deciphering the neuronal circuit underlying the anorexia produced by ablation of AgRP neurons

Joel Elmquist (Dallas, TX, USA)
Cellular and molecular mechanisms in POMC neurons regulating energy balance and glucose homeostasis

Linda Verhagen (Cologne, Germany)
Arcuate nucleus controlled locomotor activity is depending on melanocortin signaling
(short talk)

Lunch Break & Poster Session 2

Symposium 7
Central actions of melanocortins

Chair: Roger Adan (Utrecht, Netherlands)

Anthony Coll (Cambridge, UK)
The role of POMC and AgRP in the control of energy homeostasis; studies using rodent models

Tamas Horvath (New Haven, CT, USA)
Plasticity of the melanocortin neurocircuitry

Lora Heisler (Cambridge, UK)
Melanocortins and serotonin interactions

Roger Adan (Utrecht, Netherlands)
Brain region specific roles of MC receptors

Susanne la Fleur (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Involvement of melanocortins in food-motivated behavior (short talk)

Tea Break

Symposium 8
Clinical studies with melanocortins

Chair: Sadaf Farooqi (Cambridge, UK)

Sadaf Farooqi (Cambridge, UK)
The phenotype of human MC4R deficiency

Jennifer Lata (Cranbury, NJ, USA)
In vitro and in vivo profiling of a novel potent melanocortin 4 receptor peptide
agonist (Palatin Peptide A) (short talk)

Minying Cai (Tucson, AZ, USA)
Utilize conjugated hMC1R selective ligands for the earlier diagnosis and treatment of
melanoma (short talk)

Conference dinner

Symposium 9
Molecular interactions of melanocortin receptors

Chair: Pat Hinkle (Rochester, NY, USA)

Pat Hinkle (Rochester, NY, USA)
Functions of melanocortin receptor accessory proteins

Christian Vaisse (San Franscisco, CA, USA)
New aspects of MC4R biology

Ying-Kui Yang (Birmingham, AL, USA)
Structure, function and regulation of the human melanocortin receptors

Zalfa Abdel-Malek (Cincinnati, OH, USA)
The multifunctions of the melanocortin 1 receptor: regulation of pigmentation and
activation of DNA repair, antioxidant and survival pathways

Jacqueline Siljee-Wong (San Francisco, CA, USA)
The melanocortin 4 receptor localizes and may function at the primary cilium
(short talk)

Coffee Break

Symposium 10
Regulation of POMC expression and processing

Chair: Malcolm J Low (Ann Arbor, MI, USA)

Jacques Drouin (Montreal, Canada)
Genomic landscape regulating pituitary POMC expression

Marcelo Rubinstein (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Molecular and functional evolution of neuron-specific Pomc expression

Malcolm J Low (Ann Arbor, MI, USA)
Functional synergism between neuronal enhancers determines POMC tone in the CNS

Sharon Wardlaw (New York City, NY, USA)
Hypothalamic POMC peptide processing and the regulation of food intake and
adiposity

Official closure of the meeting