On the morning of August 26, 2024, the opening ceremony of the 2nd Basic Medicine Growth Partner Summer School was smoothly held under the theme of "Explore Metabolic Pathways and Decipher Cell Fate" at the No.8 large classroom of No.2 teaching building. Prof. Fang Wang, Vice Dean of the School of Basic Medicine, together with four lecturers including Prof. Sabrina Diano from Yale Univeristy & Columbia, Prof. Benjamin Ohlstein from UT Southwestern Medical Center, and Prof. Sofia-Iris Bibli from Heidelberg University attended the ceremony in person.
Prof. Fang Wang first extended warm welcome to all participants present. She mentioned that the Basic Discipline Growth Partner Summer School is offered by seven top-notch student training plan 2.0 bases in basic disciplines and is part and parcel of 2023 HUST Global Summer School. As one of seven organizers, the School of Basic Medicine aims to provide a platform for students from different countries to communicate and study. She hopes that all students can broaden their international horizon and be better equipped for global challenges and opportunities in the future.
At the end of the opening ceremony, Dr. Sabrina Diano gave students online and offline a lecture entitled "Nutrient Sensing in the Brain." Dr. Sabrina Diano is the Robert R. Williams Professor of Nutrition, Director of the Institute of Human Nutrition. She is also an adjunct Professor at department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Yale University.
In her speech, Prof. Sabrina Diano explained in detail the role of metabolic hormone, such as Leptin and Ghrelin in energy and glucose homeostasis. Afterwards, she explained how to explore the brain mechanisms regulating energy and glucose homeostasis, utilizing interdisciplinary approaches, including molecular biology, anatomy, biochemistry, behavior, electrophysiology, and chemo genetics in rodent models. In addition, they discussed nutrient sensing by the brain aim to identify inter- and intra-cellular mechanisms that enable brain cells to regulate energy and glucose metabolism and how derangements of these mechanisms induce the development of metabolic disorders. Finally, Prof. Sabrina Diano summarized the hypothalamic regulation of energy and glucose homeostasis, using recently published work from her lab as examples, especially the role of reactive oxygen species as metabolic signals and mitochondrial dynamics in energy sensing.
Students gave positive feedbacks to the first class. SAMIN HOSSEINI KERMANI from Iran said that "Today's lessons were absolutely amazing. My knowledge maybe not enough for that because I'm bachelor degree first year, but totally helpful for my future. Thank you for providing this kind of courses. I hope every year we have this opportunity to attend this kind of lessons." Chong Liu, an undergraduate from Central South University, said that "It is the first time for me to attend academic lecture given in English. At first, I am so worried that I can't understand the content, but then I find that I can catch up most of it thanks to the detailed explanation of Dr. Diano."
From August 26 to August 30, the School of Basic Medicine invited 6 professors from prestigious universities like Yale Univeristy, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Heidelberg University, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Wuhan University and so on to give lectures centering on cell metabolism. It is hoped that all summer school participants can learn about the latest findings in cell metabolism and know how to think in a scientific way through well-crafted lectures, group discussion and presentations.
