Programme

Preliminary description:
Obesity is one of the most complex and pressing challenges in modern medicine, characterized by marked interindividual variability, limited long-term therapeutic success, and profound metabolic consequences. Despite major advances in clinical management and molecular research, fundamental questions remain regarding the mechanisms that govern body weight regulation, treatment response, and disease progression. This cross-sectional symposium aims to integrate clinical perspectives, human genetics, systems physiology, and emerging mechanistic pathways to outline future directions in obesity research. Starting from the clinical realities and therapeutic limitations of obesity treatment, the program will explore why individuals differ so profoundly in susceptibility to weight gain, how central neural circuits integrate peripheral metabolic signals, and which newly identified pathways may serve as targets for next-generation therapies.