Talk by Prof. Scott Summers, Phd, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA
Destickifying Ceramides to Treat Cardiometabolic Disease
- Date: Apr 14, 2026
- Time: 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
- Speaker: Scott A. Summers, PhD
- Distinguished Professor and Chair, Department of Nutrition and Integrative Physiology, William J. Rutter Presidential Endowed Chair of Biochemistry, Co-Director, Diabetes and Metabolism Research Center, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT USA
- Location: MPI for Metabolism Research, Gleueler Strasse 50, 50931 Köln
- Room: Seminar room 1
- Contact: klingenberg@sf.mpg.de
- Topic: Discussion and debate formats, lectures
Overnutrition, inflammation, and genetic aberrations promote the accumulation of sphingolipids such as ceramides, which alter metabolic programs and induce apoptosis in a wide range of cell types.In humans, serum ceramides are biomarkers of diabetes and major adverse cardiac events, and clinics have started measuring circulating ceramides as markers of disease risk.In rodents, inhibiting ceramide biosynthesis ameliorates diabetes, steatohepatitis, kidney injury, and heart failure. The author will discuss the evolution of this pathway as a signal of lipid excess and the therapeutic potential of a new approach to inactivate ceramides and combat cardiometabolic pathologies.