"Everything we do, and everything all animals do, requires energy. That makes energy a unifying currency," John Speakman, a researcher with Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (SIAT) said at the Recent Advances & Controversies in the Measurement of Energy Metabolism (RACMEM) conference.

Participants at the RACMEM conference in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, south China, October 17, 2025. /SIAT

The 6th International Conference of RACMEM was held from October 13 to 17 in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province. Organized by the SIAT, the conference attracted 221 delegates from 21 different countries. Among them were several academicians, including the ex-chairman of the Nobel Prize committee, Barbara Cannon.

With the aim of fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and methodological advancement, the conference delved into the latest measurement technologies and their applications in energy expenditure and metabolism research in both animals and humans.

According to Speakman, understanding the factors that influence energy demands and how they are regulated therefore has a very broad set of applications: from understanding how animals will respond to climate change, to the impacts of modern life on diseases like obesity and diabetes and other fields such as performance and nutrition in sports, and how much food astronauts need to take into space.

Through thematic reports and laboratory tours, the conference showcased the technical principles and practical applications of core facilities such as metabolic chambers and the double labelled water technique. Cornelia Loechl, head of Nutritional & Health-related Environmental Studies Section at International Atomic Energy Agency, said that she was deeply impressed by the infrastructure at SIAT and expressed eagerness for future collaborations.

"It is a very special and extremely diverse gathering of scientists who might at one second be listening to how lizards respond to temperature changes and in the next hearing how the latest anti-obesity drugs affect fat and muscle tissue loss," said Dr Zhang Xueying, a researcher at SIAT.

The conference also provided domestic young scholars and students with opportunities for face-to-face exchanges and scientific discussions with experts. Wang Tianyi, a student at SIAT, shared that participating in the conference not only exposed him to cutting-edge research but also helped him establish connections with international peers.

John Speakman gives a presentation at the RACMEM conference in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, south China, October 17, 2025. /SIAT

Five years ago, Professor Speakman moved his lab from Beijing where he was previously located, at the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology in the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), to SIAT. Later, the precision nutrition lab run by Speakman got started. Until now, they have already had some major successes with papers in the top scientific journals like Science, and collaborations established with major pharmaceutical companies.

Speakman is a foreign academician of the CAS and is also a member of the U.S. National Academy and a Fellow of the UK Royal Society (the National Academy of the UK and commonwealth). Fewer than 30 scientists in the world have been elected to all three of these major academies. He has been working in China for 15 years and, since moving to Shenzhen, has been honored by the award of the National and Guangdong friendship awards.

This was the first time RACMEM has ever been held in China. Previous meetings were hosted in Denver, the U.S., Maastricht in the Netherlands, Tokyo in Japan, Fribourg in Switzerland and Quebec in Canada. (CGTN)