Audience
Alumni
Faculty
Public
Student
Overview
Sugar. In the form of glucose, it’s the most important source of energy for the human body…and also a substance that can induce cravings as robust as those for cocaine. In the form of cane, beets, and corn, it’s an important crop and commodity…and was a driving force in European colonization and the Atlantic slave trade. It’s a seemingly-irreplaceable element in celebrations, festivals, and special treats…and a source of “empty calories” in many prepared and processed foods. Sugar in the form of glucose plays a contributing role in adverse health conditions such as diabetes, fatty liver disease, high blood pressure and cancer…and in the form of glycans–complex carbohydrates that cloak the cells of our bodies–it shows promise for playing crucial roles in the treatment of diseases including cancer.
Nobel Conference 61 will seek to shed light on this complicated carbohydrate, whose roles in human life are anything but simple.
Doors Open to Christ Chapel
Watch the Livestream
Watch the main stage lectures and panel discussions, plus additional content just for the online audience. Join online hosts Tane Danger and Maggie Koerth for a full day of viewing. The livestream is happening continually 8:45 a.m. - 3:15 p.m.
Watch the Livestream
Academic Procession and Conference Opening
9 a.m.
Welcome, John Volin, President of the College
Nobel Conference 61 Introduction, Phil Voight, Director of The Nobel Conference and Lisa Heldke, Chair of Nobel Conference 61
Location: Christ Chapel
How sweet is too sweet? Health effects of sugars and artificial sweeteners
9:30 a.m.
Lecture by Frank Hu
Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Location: Christ Chapel
Sugar Less: Conquer Your Addiction
10:15 a.m.
Lecture by Nicole Avena
Associate Professor of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine, Mt. Sinai
Location: Christ Chapel
Panel Discussion and Audience Q&A
11 a.m.
%20nobelconference [at] gustavus.edu (Submit questions here.)
Location: Christ Chapel
Lunch
11:45 a.m.
Lunch Options on Campus
- Purchase lunch in the MarketPlace, the main 鶹Ƶ dining service
- Bring your own lunch
Whichever option you choose, conference attendees may eat in one of the Campus Center banquet rooms.
There are no pre-ordered lunches.
Breakout sessions
12:30 p.m.
Join one of the following breakout sessions for an opportunity to learn from a 鶹Ƶ faculty member or member of the 鶹Ƶ network, about a sugar-related topic of particular interest to you. These small sessions will give you an opportunity to ask questions and talk with others.
Breakout Sessions Schedule
Glycans: the sugars coating our cells
1:45 p.m.
Lecture by Carolyn Bertozzi
Baker Family Director, ChEM-H Institute, Stanford University
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2022
Location: Christ Chapel
Panel Discussion and Audience Q&A
2:30 p.m.
%20nobelconference [at] gustavus.edu (Submit questions here.)
Location: Christ Chapel
Sugar: Because I’m Lonely
3:15 p.m.
Sugar, because I'm lonely, a trio choreographed by 鶹Ƶ Dance Faculty Jill Patterson, performed by 鶹Ƶ Dance Company members and accompanied live by 鶹Ƶ Symphony Orchestra Cellist Annalise Maiers.
Location: Christ Chapel Lawn (Inside Chapel if inclement weather)
Book Signing Event
3:30 p.m.
Author Thomas Annesley will sign copies of his new book, Beer and the Nobel Prize: Tales of the Nobel Prizes and the People Who Won Them
Location: Book Mark, Jackson Campus Center
Conference speakers meet with 鶹Ƶ students
Strangeness Should Flow Like Sugar
5 p.m.
Location: Schaefer Art Gallery, Schaefer Studio Arts Building
Public Reception with Artist Talk, 6 p.m.
Anda Tanaka, Artist and Visiting Assistant Professor of Drawing and Printmaking at St. Olaf College presents a collection of prints, installation work, and drawings rooted in an exploration of the sugar lift aquatint etching process. Tanaka is a Minnesota-based artist and educator working primarily in printmaking and drawing. Through quiet observation and appreciation of annual seasons and daily rituals, she creates an abstract visual language that speaks to the repetitive, cyclical nature of domestic life.
Exhibition runs September 15 - October 9, 2025
The Moth StorySLAM - A Live Storytelling Event
7:30 p.m.
Bjorling Recital Hall
Join us for a live storytelling event with The Moth. The Moth aims to promote the art and craft of storytelling, and to honor and celebrate the diversity and commonality of human experience.
Relax and enjoy the show or prepare a story and put your name in the hat!
For this special Nobel Conference StorySLAM, prepare a story to share onstage, or simply join us to listen to the wonderful stories shared by members of our community. Three teams of judges will select one winner, who will progress toward a GrandSLAM Championship. The theme for the night is... CRAVINGS.
Prepare a five-minute story about intense desires fueled by your favorite foods, people, or anything that has hit the "I need it now!" button on more than one occasion. Indulging with conviction or abstaining with difficulty! Sugar tooth, primal desire...your hierarchy of needs. Pickles and ice cream, anyone?
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