The 2026 Saltiel Life Sciences Symposium will explore the basic science behind the new generation of GLP-1 therapeutics targeting diabetes and obesity. Speakers will describe the discoveries and fundamental cellular mechanisms behind the drugs, as well as ongoing efforts to improve them.

Schedule:

9:05 a.m. | Welcome
Roger Cone, Ph.D.
Mary Sue Coleman Director, Life Sciences Institute; Tadataka Yamada Distinguished University Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, Medical School; Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, University of Michigan

9:15 a.m. | To be GIP or not GIP: That is the question
Randy Seeley, Ph.D.
Henry King Ransom Professor of Surgery, Professor of Surgery and Internal Medicine, Medical School; Professor of Nutritional Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Michigan

9:55 a.m. | Neural mechanisms for GLP-1-based drugs
Amber Alhadeff, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Neuroscience, Monell Chemical Senses Center, University of Pennsylvania

10:35 a.m. | Morning break

10:50 a.m. | Hindbrain mechanisms of action for anti-obesity medicines
Martin Myers, M.D., Ph.D.
Marilyn H Vincent Professor of Diabetes Research, Professor of Internal Medicine and of Molecular & Integrative Physiology, Medical School, University of Michigan

11:30 a.m. | The network control of body weight
Kevin Williams, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, UT Southwestern Medical Center

12:10 p.m. | Lunch break

1:10 p.m. | Single-cell and genetics-driven mapping of anorectic pathways in the hindbrain
Tune Pers, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Program Coordinator, Human Variation & Functional Genomics, Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research

1:50 p.m. | Hormonal control of metabolism by GIP and incretin-based polyagonists
Timo Müller, Ph.D.
Director, Institute for Diabetes and Obesity; W3 Professor, Walther-Straub Institute for Pharmacology and Toxicology; Medical Faculty, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich

2:30 p.m. | Poster session

3:45 p.m. | Introduction of the Mary Sue and Kenneth Coleman Lecturer
Thomas Wang, M.D.
Dean and Josiah Macy, Jr. Professor, Medical School; Chief Academic Office, Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan

3:50 p.m. | Mary Sue and Kenneth Coleman Life Sciences Lecture: Modern GLP-1 medicines—How do they work?
Dan Drucker, M.D.
Professor of Medicine and Banting and Best Diabetes Centre-Novo Nordisk Chair in Incretin Biology, University of Toronto; Senior Investigator, Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health

4:50 p.m. | Closing remarks