Jens Juul Holst is Professor at the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Senior Group Leader at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Centre for Basic Metabolic Research, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. His scientific work has focused on peptide hormones of the gastrointestinal tract. Among his major scientific achievements is work on the peptide hormone GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide 1) and its significance for insulin secretion, food intake, and appetite control. His work has been of major importance for the development of GLP-1 analogue therapeutics now in use around the world to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity.

Claus H. Gravholt, Professor, dr.med., PhD

Aarhus University Hospital, Department of Endocrinology, Denmark

https://pure.au.dk/portal/da/persons/claus.gravholt@clin.au.dk

Title: Sex, sex differences and biomarkers

How do we determine sex? In a clinical setting we determine sex based on chromosomal sex (46,XY or 46,XX), gonadal sex (testis or ovaries), hormonal sex (testosterone or estrogen), and anatomical sex (internal (to have a uterus or not) and external (penis or vagina)). This is usually straightforward in most cases, however in case of disorders of sex development (DSD) there may be incongruency between these different levels of sex and for example we may see an individual with a typical feminine appearance and 46,XY, testis, high levels of testosterone and without a uterus (46,XY female DSD with androgen insensitivity). Patients with DSD typically presents a challenge, when assessing biochemical measures, and this may initially lead to confusion, until a diagnosis is reached. In addition to these levels of sex, which are easily determined clinically, we also talk about the social gender or the perception of oneself, which again may not be congruent with the sex assigned at birth. Some of these individuals choose to change sex – transpersons. In transpersons (female-to-male (FtM), male-to-female (MtF)), many biochemical measures will change in line with the administered sex steroid therapy.

Curtis Huttenhower, Professor of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics

Harvard Chan Microbiome in Public Health Center. Associate Member, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Departments of Biostatistics and Immunology and Infectious Diseases Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

hsph.harvard.edu/profile/curtis-huttenhower/

Title: Next steps for microbiome therapies: mechanism of action

Several microbiome-derived therapies have now received or are undergoing regulatory approval, including both live biotherapeutic products (LBPs) and bioactive small molecules of microbial origin. However, almost none have established mechanisms of action, be they chemical, immune-mediated, ecological, or otherwise. This process is impeded by the extent of microbial “dark matter” even in the well-studied human gut microbiome: some 50-75% of microbial proteins cannot be assigned even putative function from metagenomes alone, and this fraction is above 95% in other environments. We have developed new methods that provide potential pathway assignments for approximately 25% of human gut microbiome proteins, as well as guidelines for extending them to other hosts and environments. Examples include new chemotaxis and B-vitamin metabolism cassettes in Hungatella hathewayi, implicated in inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer, and CRISPR system members in the “anti-inflammatory” Faecalibacterium prausnitzii. In addition to metabolic functions, many previously uncharacterized sequences are likely to be viral, and we find perturbations in both DNA and RNA viromes during inflammation (e.g. E. coli phage correlated with increased E. coli abundance) using novel profiling methods. Finally, many of these new functions can be linked to small molecule chemistry as well, e.g. putative bilirubin derivatives depleted in IBD. These approaches thus aid in identifying the molecular mechanisms underlying ecological, metabolic, and disease phenotypes and treatments.

Emma Raitoharju, Academy Research Fellow

Tampere University, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Biomedicine,

Finland

https://www.tuni.fi/en/people/emma-raitoharju

Title: The role of epigenetics in mediating health and disease

Epigenetic profiles regulate cellular function and gene expression without altering the DNA sequence. These profiles, for example, ensure that daughter cells retain the identity (i.e. cell type) of their mother cells. From an individual's perspective, epigenetic mechanisms enable the body to adapt to environmental conditions and even allow the future offspring to adapt to anticipated conditions already during pregnancy. During lifespan, epigenetic profiles are responsive to external exposures, such as smoking and chronological age and can be used to measure these exposures indirectly, when data is not available. Epigenetic profiles also reflect broader phenotypes, such as rate of biological ageing, but the role of epigenetics in the pathology of non-communicable diseases as well as the clinical utility of these measurements is still under investigation.

Jakob Kjellberg, Professor
VIVE – The Danish Center for Social Science Research, Denmark

https://www.vive.dk/da/medarbejdere/jakob-kjellberg-1vdjb4vn/

Title: The Future of Healthcare – Moving Closer to the Citizen

Professor Jakob Kjellberg – a member of the Danish Health Structure Commission (“Sundhedsstrukturkommissionen”) – will share insights from the Commission’s work as a starting point for discussing the future development of Nordic healthcare systems. He will examine the necessary shift from hospital-based care towards community- and primary care-oriented solutions, addressing the magnitude of change required, the implications for clinical practice and laboratory medicine, and the opportunities and challenges in bringing healthcare closer to the citizen.