Proposed by the EPA section on Eating Disorders -Anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) are severe eating disorders (ED) with potential life threatening complications. Although the efficacy of treatments varies among studies, a recovery average of 30% of ED patients is acknowledged. In addition, high rates of drop-out and relapse contribute to a low efficiency of available treatments. Therefore, there is a need to improve the knowledge of the pathophysiology of these disorders in order to identify possible treatment targets and propose more accurate therapeutic interventions. The aim of this symposium is to illustrate new advances in the pathophysiology of EDs, which might provide a theoretical pathogenetic link between alterations in specific brain and/or peripheral systems and ED psychopathology in order to suggest new perspectives for prevention and/or treatment of AN and BN. To this purpose, Prof. F. Fernandez-Aranda (Barcelona, Spain) will discuss personality, cognitive and neurobiological markers associated with therapy response in EDs. Prof. Valdo Ricca (Florence, Italy,) will present the role of the reward system in EDs. Prof. Milos Gabriella (Zurich, Switzerland) will illustrate the role of hypoleptinemia in anorexia nervosa and will present the first experiences with off-label treatment with metreleptin, a leptin analogue. Dr. Philibert Duriez (Paris, France) will analyze factors that drives the increase of insight of patients treated for EDs.