This two day Focused Meeting is sponsored jointly by the Biochemical Society, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), and EU Consortium SaveBeta.
Proceedings (invited speakers) will be published in Biochemical Society Transactions.
Abstract submission deadline: 3 October 2007
Online abstract submission is now closed.
Earlybird registration deadline: 5 November 2007
Registration for the meeting is now closed. The meeting is fully booked and we can no longer accept new registrations.
Accommodation information.
Student travel grants are available for this meeting.
Please note: the use of mobiles phones is strictly prohibited within St Thomas' Hospital.
The biology of the pancreatic b-cell is an area of substantial topicality given that these cells are either destroyed or become dysfunctional in all forms of diabetes. The two forms of this disease (type 1, an autoimmune disease where b-cells are destroyed, and type 2, a metabolic disorder involving insulin resistance and b-cell failure) currently afflicts more than 1.8 million Britons and more than 300 million individuals worldwide, and is thus reaching epidemic proportions. Much energy is now being devoted to find ways to provide artificial b-cells, from stem cells or other sources both in vivo and ex vivo and the first session (Birth) of the meeting will thus focus on the basic biology of b-cell development. At the same time, understanding how the b-cell responds to glucose, resulting in activation of signalling pathways that trigger insulin exocytosis, will be important if such cells are to be useful in clinical applications, such as transplantation. This topic will be discussed during the Life session of the meeting. A session will also be included on the genetics of type 2 diabetes, given the recent demonstration of a role for the failed generation of new b-cells in this disease, and the molecular pathways which likely underlie this process in both forms of diabetes. Finally, b-cell death through immune cell-driven apoptosis underlies type 1 diabetes, and it has recently been suggested that b-cell death also occurs, albeit to a lesser extent, in type 2 diabetes. The next session (Death) of the meeting will therefore cover the signalling mechanisms regulating these processes. The meeting will end with a session on Revival including exciting new therapeutic approaches such as islet transplantation and the use of embryonic stem cell derived b-cells.
These sessions, which will include two plenaries, will be complemented by four oral presentations from submitted abstracts to give opportunity for involvement of young scientists. There will also be a poster session on the evening of Day 1 where posters will be judged by a panel and a Best Poster prize (100) awarded to the winner. A further poster viewing will be scheduled into Day 2.
Delegates attending this meeting may be interested in subscribing to the journal Clinical Science
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