Levine-Riggs Diabetes Research Symposium Program

Day 1: Friday, Nov. 14, 2025
Day 1: Friday, Nov. 14, 2025
Basic Text Field

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
Day 2: Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025
Day 2: Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025
Basic Text Field

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

Day 3: Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025
Day 3: Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025
Basic Text Field

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 
Day 4: Monday, Nov. 17, 2025
Day 4: Monday, Nov. 17, 2025
Basic Text Field

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