Kristina Schoonjans, Laboratory of Metabolic Signaling, Institute of Bioengineering, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland Kristina Schoonjans is a Professor at the Institute of Bioengineering at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. She completed her doctoral and post-doctoral training in France at the Institut Pasteur in Lille and joined the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology in Strasbourg as an INSERM Researcher with a focus on metabolism. She contributed in a significant fashion to identifying the molecular pathways by which enterohepatic nuclear receptors and membrane receptors control metabolic homeostasis. Most importantly she identified the bile acid-responsive membrane receptor TGR5 as a non-genomic pathway by which bile acids act as endocrine regulators of energy expenditure, glucose metabolism, and inflammation, for which she was awarded the Adolf Windaus prize.

Johan Auwerx is using systems biology and genetics approaches to understand the communication between the mitochondria and the nucleus. His work is relevant for the areas of transcription, mitochondria, metabolism, and aging. His research spurred the development of new drugs, such as PPAR agonists, Urolithins, PARP and ACMSD inhibitors and other NAD+ boosters for the treatment of age-related metabolic, cardio-vascular and neuro-muscular diseases. Johan Auwerx was elected as a member of EMBO in 2003 and has received many international scientific prizes. He is the founder of several biotech companies.

Dr Sof Andrikopoulos is currently the CEO of the Australian Diabetes Society and has previously served as President, Treasurer and Chair of the Program Organising Committee of the Society. During this time the ADS has revitalised the National Association of Diabetes Centres, acquired Diabetes Feet Australia, developed the Living Evidence Guidelines in Diabetes as well as a number of position and consensus statement, educational webinars and live panel discussions that are provided on a dedicated platform. In collaboration with Diabetes Australia and the Australian Diabetes Educators Association the ADS has advocated for the CGM subsidy, Diabetes and Schools Program and is responsible for the Foot Forward Program. Prior to this Dr Andrikopoulos was the Head of the Islet Biology and Metabolism Research Group at the University of Melbourne Department of Medicine (Austin Health), which conducted discovery research in the genetic and biochemical mechanisms of islet beta cell dysfunction in type 2 diabetes. Dr Andrikopoulos was awarded a NHMRC Award for Research Excellence and a Diabetes Australia Research Trust Millennium Award. Dr Andrikopoulos has published more than 140 research articles in the etiology and management of type 2 diabetes.

Jacqueline Stoeckli obtained her PhD from the University of Basel in Switzerland where she studied intracellular protein trafficking. She then joined Prof David James' group at the Garvan Institute in Sydney and she initially focused on insulin regulated protein trafficking with a particular interest in GLUT4 and vesicle trafficking proteins. In the James Lab she learned about insulin signalling, glucose metabolism, mouse physiology and more recently mouse genetics. She is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney. Her research focuses on the insulin regulation of lipolysis and the genetics of metabolic disease.