Levine-Riggs Diabetes Research Symposium Program
8 to 10 a.m., Session 1 — The Status of Human Pancreatic Islet Transplantation in 2025
Moderators: Adolfo Garcia-Ocaña, Ph.D., City of Hope, California, and Andrew Stewart, M.D., Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York
- The current state of islet transplant, including results with anti-CD40, Piotr Witkowski, M.D., Ph.D., The University of Chicago, Illinois
- Long-term outcomes of islet cell transplant, Fouad Kandeel, M.D., Ph.D., City of Hope, California
- The trial for chemically induced pluripotent stem cell derived islet transplantation in type 1 diabetes, Shusen Wang, Ph.D., Nankai University, China
- First registration trial for stem cell derived islets in the U.S., Michael Rickels, M.D., University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania
10:15 a.m. to noon, Session 2 — Stem Cell Therapy for T1D: Now, Tomorrow and in the Future
Moderators: Alberto Pugliese, M.D., City of Hope, California, and Jeffrey Millman Ph.D., Washington University, Missouri
- Novel biomaterials for local immune tolerance, Andres Garcia, Ph.D., Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia
- Engineering T-cells for tolerance, Wendell Lim, Ph.D., University of California, San Francisco, California
- Overcoming immune barriers through gene editing of stem cell-derived islets, Audrey Parent, Ph.D., University of California, San Francisco, California
- Oral presentation — Trainee
Noon: Lunch
1:15 to 3 p.m., Session 3 — Growing Islets in a Dish: The Blooming Garden of Stem Cell-Derived Islets
Moderators: Sangeeta Dhawan, Ph.D., City of Hope, California, and David Harlan, M.D., UMass Chan Medical School, Massachusetts
- Status of state-of-the-art SC-islets and looking forward in the future for the field, Jeffrey Millman, Ph.D., Washington University, Missouri
- How do pancreatic progenitors decide to become beta cells? Maria Cristina Nostro, Ph.D., University of Toronto, Canada
- Gene regulatory mechanisms in pancreatic islet lineage decisions during in vitro directed differentiation, Han Zhu, Ph.D., University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Colorado
- Oral presentation — Trainee
3:15 to 5 p.m., Session 4 — Who is on the Line: Chatting in the Pancreatic Cellular Ecosystem
Moderators: Hung-Ping (Ben) Shih, Ph.D., City of Hope, California, and Lori Sussel, Ph.D., University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Colorado
- Cross talk between ductal cells and beta cells, Hsun Teresa Ku, Ph.D., City of Hope, California
- Cross talk amongst endocrine cells, Mark Huising, Ph.D., University of California, Davis, California
- Primary cilia: Novel signaling mechanisms in islet cells, Jing Hughes, M.D., Ph.D., Yale University, Connecticut
- Alpha cells matter in diabetes, Daniela Dean, Ph.D., Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Tennessee
5:15 p.m., Poster Session Reception
6:30 p.m., Symposium Dinner and Lecture
- Overview of disease modification, Carmella Evans Molina, M.D., Ph.D., Indiana University School of Medicine, Indiana
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