Professor James holds the Leonard P Ullmann Chair in Molecular Systems Biology and leads Biology at the Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney. He discovered the insulin-responsive glucose transporter GLUT4 and has advanced understanding of insulin action. His research now focuses on how genetics and environment shape metabolic health and disease.

Kristina Schoonjans is a Professor at the Institute of Bioengineering at the École Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. She completed her doctoral and post-doctoral training in France at the Pasteur Institute in Lille and later joined the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology in Strasbourg. Over the years, her research has significantly advanced our understanding of how enterohepatic nuclear receptors and membrane receptors regulate metabolic homeostasis. Notably, she identified the bile acid-responsive G protein-coupled receptor TGR5 as a non-genomic pathway by which bile acids function as endocrine regulators of energy expenditure, glucose metabolism, and inflammation. For this groundbreaking work, she was awarded the Adolf Windaus Prize and, more recently, the European Medal of Endocrinology. Within the long-term mission to translate fundamental bile acid biology into novel therapies for metabolic disorders, the Schoonjans lab is currently advancing a new line of TGR5-centered research focused on the metabolic interplay between the gut microbiome and host bile acid physiology.

Matthew Watt is Professor of Physiology and Associate Dean of Research in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne. His research seeks to unravel complex metabolic and endocrine regulation to support new therapies for obesity-related diseases, including type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and cancer. His laboratory collaborates nationally and internationally and uses advanced metabolic, lipidomic and proteomic tools, including mass spectrometry and real-time metabolic assessment in cells, tissues and mice. He also works with industry partners, including Eli Lily and CSL, to translate pre-clinical discoveries into patient-focused solutions.

Professor Steinberg holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Metabolism and Obesity. His research studies cellular energy sensing mechanisms and how endocrine factors, lipid metabolism and insulin sensitivity are linked and contribute to the development of obesity, MASH, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. He has published over 250 papers and since 2020 has made the list of the world’s top 0.1% of researchers based on citations. Importantly, many of these studies have laid the foundation for therapies that have recently been approved or are in clinical trials for cardiometabolic disease. His scientific contributions have been recognized by numerous national and international associations who have presented him with outstanding scientific achievement awards.

Dr. Diaz obtained his PhD in 2018 from the University of Chile and moved to Australia in 2019 to pursue training in metabolic diseases under Prof. David James. He currently holds the Catch-Lover Fellowship and leads a research team investigating how mitochondrial function contributes to the development of insulin resistance.