Levine-Riggs Diabetes Research Symposium Program

8 to 9:45 a.m., Session 5 — Extracellular Vesicles in T1D: Small but Mighty

Moderators: Debbie Thurmond, Ph.D., City of Hope, California, and Emily Sims, M.D., Indiana University School of Medicine, Indiana

• Circulating extracellular vesicles contribute to type 1 diabetes pathogenicity, Rupangi Vasavada, Ph.D., City of Hope, California
• Stress in motion: How beta cells EVs mediate islet microenvironment interactions, Emily Sims, M.D., Indiana University School of Medicine, Indiana
• Defining the roles of beta cell-specific EVs in T1D using a novel mouse model, Peter Thompson, Ph.D., University of Manitoba, Canada
• Oral presentation — Trainee 

10 to 11:45 a.m., Session 6 — The Long and Short of Islet RNA

Moderators: Rama Natarajan, Ph.D., City of Hope, California, and Lori Sussel, Ph.D., University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Colorado

• Disrupted RNA splicing in T1D, Lori Sussel, Ph.D., University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Colorado
• RNA translational control in T1D, Doris A. Stoffers, M.D., Ph.D, University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania
• Contribution of disrupted RNA modifications in T1D, Rohit Kulkarni, M.D., Ph.D., Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts
• Oral presentation — Trainee

11:45 a.m., Lunch

1 to 1:45 p.m., Rachmiel Levine Award Lecture — Kevan Herold, MD, Yale University, Connecticut

Moderator: David Harlan, M.D., UMass Chan Medical School, Massachusetts

2 to 3:45 p.m., Session 7 — What’s all the Hubbub: Controversies in Beta Cell Metabolics and Energy

Moderators: Patrick Fueger, Ph.D., City of Hope, California, and Jordan Wright, M.D., Ph.D., Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Tennessee

• “Metabolic suspended animation” a protective response unique to the beta cell, John Corbett, Ph.D., Medical College of Wisconsin, Wisconsin
• Beta cell performance — Intermediary metabolism, Matthew Merrins, Ph.D., Yale University, Connecticut
• Workload sensing by β-cells through metabolic regulation of the epigenome, Matthew Wortham, Ph.D., University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Colorado
• Oral presentation — Trainee 

4 to 6 p.m., Session 8 — T1D Villains and Benefactors/Immune Cells Face Off with Islets

Moderators: Helena Reijonen, Ph.D., City of Hope, California, and Michael Brehm, Ph.D., UMass Chan Medical School, Massachusetts

• Hybrid islet peptides as autoantigens, Thomas Delong, Ph.D., University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Colorado
• TBD, Timothy Tree, Ph.D., King’s College, London, United Kingdom
• Lessons from the pancreas — Histomorphological analysis of islet cell inflammation and dysfunction, Teresa Rodriguez-Calvo, D.V.M., Ph.D., Helmholtz Munich, Germany
• Innate immune responses as important contributors to T1D pathophysiology, Eoin McKinney, M.D., Ph.D., University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

6 p.m., Social Hour Reception

8 to 10 a.m., Session 9 — Stratifying Disease Progression to Guide Therapy

Moderators: Farooq Syed, Ph.D., City of Hope, California, and Jordan Wright, M.D., Ph.D., Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Tennessee

• IA-2 as a uniquely specific autoantigen target for accelerated progression to clinical disease, Ezio Bonifacio, Ph.D., Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
• Quantifying individual risk and response to disease modifying-therapies, Carla Greenbaum, M.D., Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason, Washington
• Impact of age on T1D phenotype, Richard Oram, M.D., Ph.D., University of Exeter, United Kingdom
• Obesity drives heterogeneity in the T1D phenotype, Maria Jose Redondo, M.D., Ph.D., Baylor College of Medicine, Texas

10:15 to 11:25 a.m., Islet Xenotransplantation

Moderator: David Harlan, M.D., UMass Chan Medical School, Massachusetts

• Islet xenotransplantation, Kazuhiko Yamada, M.D., Ph.D., John Hopkins Medicine, Maryland

11:25 a.m., Lunch

12:45 to 2:30 p.m., Session 10 — Beta Cells Under Pressure: Immune Cell Feuding in T1D 

Moderators: Defu Zeng, Ph.D., City of Hope, California, and Michael Brehm, Ph.D., UMass Chan Medical School, Massachusetts

• T-reg function and dysfunction in T1D, Megan Levings, Ph.D., The University of British Columbia, Canada
• The role of B-cells in early onset of T1D, Mia Smith, D.V.M., Ph.D., University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Colorado
• Molecular approaches for induction of immunological tolerance, Jeffrey Hubbell, Ph.D., New York University, New York
• Oral Presentation — Trainee 

2:45 to 4:45 p.m., Session 11 — Heterogeneity in T1D Susceptibility and Phenotypes

Moderators: John Kaddis, Ph.D., City of Hope, California, and Anette-Gabriele Ziegler, M.D., Technical University Munich, Germany

• Heterogeneity in islet size and composition: Implications for autoimmunity and pathophysiology, Sarah Richardson, Ph.D., University of Exeter, United Kingdom
• Do circulating biomarkers give us insights into T1D heterogeneity? Cate Speake, Ph.D., Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason, Washington
• Multimodal tissue-signatures from organ donors with type 1 diabetes, Todd Brusko, Ph.D., University of Florida, Florida
• Impacts of beta cell heterogeneity on T1D susceptibility, Vira Kravets, Ph.D., University of California, San Diego, California

5 to 6:45 p.m., Session 12 — Giving In or Staying Alive: A Story of Beta Cell Health

Moderators: Rupangi Vasavada, Ph.D., City of Hope, California, and Emily Sims, M.D., Indiana University School of Medicine, Indiana

• The Epigenetic Playbook: Scripting endocrine identity and resilience, Sangeeta Dhawan, Ph.D., City of Hope, California
• Beta cell autophagy in T1D, Amelia Linnemann, Ph.D., Indiana University School of Medicine, Indiana
• Viral interference of beta cell biology in T1D, Michele Solimena, M.D., Ph.D., Helmholtz Munich, Germany
• Oral presentation — Trainee 

8 to 8:45 a.m., Arthur Riggs Award Lecture — Alvin Powers, M.D., Vanderbilt School of Medicine, Tennessee

Moderator: Andrew Stewart, M.D., UMass Chan Medical School, Massachusetts

9 to 10:20 a.m., Session 13 — Diabetes Technology: A Look into the Crystal Ball

Moderators: Ping Wang, M.D., City of Hope, California, and Jordan Wright, M.D., Ph.D., Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Tennessee

• Smart insulin, new developments around insulin treatment, Eda Cengiz, M.D., University of California, San Francisco, California
• Technologies in managing type 1 diabetes, Viral Shah, M.D., Indiana University School of Medicine, Indiana
• Oral presentation — Trainee 

11 a.m. to 12:35 p.m., Session 14 — Industry, stem cells and clinical trials

Moderators: Fouad Kandeel, M.D., Ph.D., City of Hope, California, and Andrew Stewart, M.D., Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York

• Antigen-based therapy and primary oral insulin trial data (PoinT), Anette-Gabriele Ziegler, M.D., Technical University Munich, Germany
• Islet vitrification, Gregory Fahy, Ph.D., 21st Century Medicine, Inc., California
• Post-registration follow-up studies of recently approved therapeutics to include cadaveric islets and TZield: Safety, uptake and efficacy, TBD

12:10 p.m., Meeting adjourns — boxed lunch to go