SPHERES Lipid droplet hypertrophy

3rd SPHERES Consortium Meeting in Nice, France

barbara.rieffly@utoulouse.fr (Barbara RIEFFLY) — Mon, 07 Oct 2024 22:00:00 GMT

Images developped by Stéphanie Cassant-Sourdy

3rd SPHERES Consortium Meeting in Nice

From November 25th to 27th, a total of 45 members of the SPHERES team got together in Nice, at the Saint Paul hotel, to present the progress made by the different participants involved in the project during the four years that the SPHERES grant has been running. They reflected together about the next steps and missions to be made, in order to achieve the objectives defined in the project.

SPHERES is a Synergy project funded by the European Research Commission. The goal of SPHERES is to understand the dynamics and consequences of the enlargement of adipocytes through investigation of its lipid droplet (LD). Adipocyte hypertrophy due to an increase in LD size may, irrespective of body fat mass, cause a wide range of pathological conditions, notably cardiometabolic diseases. SPHERES Pis are Dominique Langin (Université de Toulouse III Paul Sabatier), Mikael Rydén (Karolinska Insitutet) and Brunno Antonny (CNRS, IPBM). The INSERM and the Côte d'Azur University participate in the projet as third parties.

The first day of the conference was focused on summarising the recent SPHERES scientific report and main results through four different topics:

Correlation profiles in proteomic studies of LD coverage in adipocytes (presentation by Danae Zareifi & Maureen Verdier, from KI team)
Modelling adipocyte (dys)function (presentation by Dominique Langin, PI from UT3)
The adipocyte portal (presentation by Lucas Massier, from KI team (and now Helmholtz, Leipzig)
Why do LDs in adipocytes contain triglycerides with short chain fatty acids? (presentation by David Kovacs, from CNRS Valbonne (and now University of Szeged)

On the second day, researchers were more focused on highlighting ongoing projects through 8 presentations:

Looking for new proteins sensing LD surface tension (presentation by Akim Bello, CNRS Valbonne)
Molecular and cell studies on PLIN4 LDs (presentation by Cyril Moulin, CNRS Montpellier)
PLCXD1 (presentation by Scott Frendo-Cumbo, KI team and Rita Araujo & Joëlle Bigay, CNRS Valbonne)
PLIN1 mutants in human adipocyte and mouse models (presentation by Geneviève Tavernier & Henrik Laurell, UT3 team)
HSL subcellular partitioning and access to its substrates (presentation by Laura Bottin, UT3 team)
Behavior of Plins in cells (presentation by Alenka Copic, CNRS Montpellier)
Adipocyte heterogeneity (presentation by Jutta Jalkanen KI team)
Lipolysis, lipid droplets and thermogenesis in brown adipocytes (presentation by Etienne Mouisel, UT3 team)

A Poster session & technical notes:

Posters : Sylvie Rouquier (CNRS Montpellier), Rita Araujo (CNRS Valbonne), Merve Elmastas (KI), Delphine Debayle (CNRS Valbonne)
Slides: Julie Cazareth (CNRS Valbonne), Céline Franckhauser (CNRS Montpellier), Cyril Moulin (CNRS Montpellier), Sophie Weinbrenner (KI), Romain Gautier (CNRS Valbonne), Joëlle Bigay & Bruno Antonny (CNRS, Valbonne)

And 3 round tables: Lipid droplet heterogeneity, Proteins on lipid droplets, Lipases.

ERC BIOLOGY INFO DAYS

barbara.rieffly@utoulouse.fr (Barbara RIEFFLY) — Mon, 11 Dec 2023 23:00:00 GMT

About the event

At the initiative of the Toulouse "Biology and Biotechnology for Health" research federation, associated with the "Agrobiosciences, Interactions and Biodiversity" (FRAIB) research federation, these 2 days were organized in conjunction with the University of Toulouse and all the laboratories involved (UT3, CNRS, Inserm, Inrae, Toulouse University Hospital).

Program:

Presentation of winning projects
Meetings and exchanges with ERC winners
Discussions on ERC procedures and support for candidates, detection and encouragement.
Launch of the "Toulouse Biology ERC Club"

Speakers from SPHERES:
Pr. Dominique Langin, Session 3: Toulouse biology laureates, "Lipid droplet hypertrophy: the link between adipocyte dysfunction and cardiometabolic diseases"

ERC Info Days page:
https://bio-sante-toulouse.fr/erc-toulouse-biologie/programme-et-presentations-journee-erc/

2nd SPHERES Consortium Meeting in Stockholm, Sweden

Sun, 11 Jun 2023 22:00:00 GMT

Images developped by Stéphanie Cassant-Sourdy

2nd SPHERES Consortium Meeting in Stockholm

From June 8th to 9th, a total of 46 members of the SPHERES team got together in Stockholm, at the Karolinska Institutet, to present the progress made by the different participants involved in the project during the two years and a half that the SPHERES grant has been running. They reflected together about the next steps and missions to be made, in order to achieve the objectives defined in the project.

Next meeting will be organized in Nice, at the semester of 2024.

The first day of the conference was focused on exploring four different topics through group sessions :

· Lipolysis 10.0 (discussions led by Pierre-Damien Denechaud et David Kovacs )
· Proxisomes/proteomes of LD (discussions led by Henrik Laurell, Danae Zareifi, Joelle Bigay)
· Perilipins (discussions led by Elena Griseti, Alenka Copic, Akim Bello)
· Adipose tissue cell transplantation (discussions led by Merve Elmastas, Laura Bottin, Rita Araujo )

On the second day, researchers were more focused on summarizing the findings of the group sessions and on determining the next steps in the project.

Version en français

2e réunion du consortium SPHERES à Stockholm

Du 8 au 9 juin, un total de 46 membres de l'équipe SPHERES se sont réunis à Stockholm, au Karolinska Institutet, pour présenter les progrès réalisés par les différents acteurs impliqués dans le projet pendant les deux ans et demi que la bourse SPHERES a été en cours d'exécution. Ils ont réfléchi ensemble aux prochaines étapes et missions à accomplir, afin d'atteindre les objectifs définis dans le projet.

SPHERES est un projet Synergy financé par la Commission européenne de la recherche (ERC). L'objectif de SPHERES est celui de comprendre la dynamique et les conséquences de l'élargissement des adipocytes grâce à l'étude de sa gouttelette lipidique (LD). L'hypertrophie adipocytaire due à une augmentation de la taille de la LD peut, quelle que soit la masse grasse corporelle, entraîner un large éventail de pathologies, notamment des maladies cardiométaboliques. Les porteurs scientifiques de SPHERES sont Dominique Langin (Université de Toulouse III Paul Sabatier), Mikael Rydén (Karolinska Insitutet) et Brunno Antonny (CNRS, IPBM, CRBM). Le projet est porté par l’Université Toulouse III Paul Sabatier. L’INSERM et l’Université Côte d’Azur (UCA) participant en tant que tierces parties.

La prochaine réunion sera organisée à Nice, au semestre 2024.

Le premier jour de la conférence a été axé sur l'exploration de quatre sujets différents par le biais de séances de groupe :

Lipolyse 10.0 (discussions animées par Pierre-Damien Denechaud (INSERM) et David Kovacs)
Proxisâmes/protéomes de LD (discussions animées par Henrik Laurell, Danae Zareifi, Joelle Bigay)
Périlipines (discussions animées par Elena Griseti, Alenka Copic, Akim Bello)
Greffe de cellules du tissu adipeux (discussions animées par Merve Elmastas, Laura Bottin, Rita Araujo)

Le deuxième jour, les chercheurs se sont davantage concentrés sur la synthèse des résultats des séances de groupe et sur la détermination des prochaines étapes du projet.

1st face-to-face SPHERES kick-off meeting in Toulouse

Sun, 08 Jan 2023 23:00:00 GMT

Images developped by Stéphanie Cassant-Sourdy

SPHERES kick-off in-person meeting in Toulouse

The SPHERES in person kick-off meeting had to be postponed due to COVID, and it finally took place in Toulouse on June 15th and 16th, 2022.

The goal of SPHERES is to understand the dynamics and consequences of adipocyte hypertrophy (enlargement) through investigation of its large lipid droplet (LD). The adipocyte LD is a unique organelle specialised in storing energy in triglycerides (TGs). Its surface is composed of a phospholipid monolayer and specific LD-associated proteins (such as perilipins and lipases), which jointly regulate LD stability and TG turnover. Adipocyte hypertrophy due to an increase in LD size may, irrespective of body fat mass, cause a wide range of pathological conditions, notably cardiometabolic diseases.
The objective of this meeting was to present the progress made since the beginning of the project and to discuss findings and next steps of the SPHERES project.

Session 1

The first day of the conference was focused on exploring six different topics through three-slides presentations:

1. 3D adipocyte studies
2. Gene editing in adipocytes
3. LD-associated proteomes
4. Advanced imaging of LDs
5. Native large LDs for reconstitution studies
6. New developments: Adipocyte heterogeneity and fat metabolism

Session 2

The second part of the first day meeting was devoted to discuss the three questions of the project in groups:

A. What makes the white adipocyte LD so different from LDs found in other cells?
B. How will the lipid droplet determine the maximal/optimal size of the fat cell?
C. How does the LD influences the biology of the fat cell and adipose tissue function?

Session 3

The last day was focused on discussing future actions. Interaction, timelines, visits, priorities, among others, were discussed.

SPHERES starting date

Thu, 27 Aug 2020 22:00:00 GMT

SPHERES project started in 01 September 2020. Follow our activities and results in this website and on Twitter!

SPHERES Kick-off meeting

Tue, 25 Aug 2020 22:00:00 GMT

SPHERES kick-off meeting took place on 4th November 2020 online. The meeting was divided in 3 sessions, lead by each principal investigators:

Session 1: Cells / spheroids / imaging (coordinated by Mikael Rydén)
- Spheroid data from different human cells including functional analyses - Morgane Couchet, Thais Castro de Barbosa, Joanne Shen and Volker Lauschke (KI)
- Spheroid and imaging data from adipose tissue - Jérémy Dufau (I2MC)

Session 2: CRISPR (coordinated by Dominique Langin)
- General introduction - Jean-Paul Concordet (TACGENE, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris)
- Presentation on mice and human immortalized ACSs - Dominique Langin (I2MC)
- Presentation from KI - Niklas Mejhert, Morgane Couchet (KI)

Session 3: Reconstitution and cell biology (coordinated by Bruno Antonny)
- What do we learn from reconstitution studies in membrane biology? - Bruno Antonny (IPMC)
- Studying the interaction between perilipins and lipid droplet in model systems - Alenka Copic (CRBM)
- Cholesterol distribution during cell differentiation - David Kovacs (IPMC)
- Setting up a high-performance thin layer chromatography system - Ana-Rita Araujo (IPMC)

Around 30 participants joined the online sessions to share and exchange about their research in the scope of the project. Following the kick-off meeting, virtual working groups will be set up according to each person's expertise.