Banting Lecture 2012: Regulation of Adipogenesis: Toward New Therapeutics for Metabolic Disease

The Banting Medal for Scientific Achievement Award is the American Diabetes Association's highest scientific award and honors an individual who has made significant, long-term contributions to the understanding of diabetes, its treatment, and/or prevention.The award is named after Nobel Prize winner Sir Frederick Banting, who codiscovered insulin treatment for diabetes. Bruce M. Spiegelman, PhD, of Harvard Medical School and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, received the American Diabetes Association's Banting Medal for Scientific Achievement at the Association's 72nd Scientific Sessions, 8–12 June 2012, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He presented the Banting Lecture, “Transcriptional Control of Adipogenesis—Toward a New Generation of Therapeutics for Metabolic Disease,” on Sunday, 10 June 2012. In his lecture, Dr. Spiegelman described the discovery of several transcriptional components that control adipose cell development: PPAR-γ, PGC1-α, and PRDM16. He also described the cloning and characterization of beige fat cells, the thermogenic “brown-like” cells that can develop in white fat depots. Lastly, Dr. Spiegelman discussed irisin, a newly discovered regulatory hormone that converts white fat into the more thermogenic beige fat. Dr. Spiegelman’s research has found that irisin, which is induced by exercise, appears to activate some of the same health benefits as exercise, including improvement of glycemic control. Understanding the regulation of adipose tissue, white, brown, and beige, can potentially lead to the development of a new generation of therapeutics for diabetes prevention and treatment.