Diabetes Day: from beta cells to big data
How can research on big data improve diabetes therapy? How does the circadian rhythm affect insulin secretion and the aetiology of diabetes? And will novel drugs change diabetes care? These and other questions will be discussed by world-leading scientists at the Diabetes Day conference hosted by Karolinska Institutet.
Reporters are welcome to attend the conference and interview the scientists.
Conference: Diabetes Day: Symposium on Molecular and Physiological Aspects of Diabetes Mellitus
When: Friday 11 November 2016, 9.00 am – 4.00 pm
Where: Stockholm, Aula Medica, Nobels väg 6, Karolinska Institutet Campus Solna
“As the incidence of type 2 diabetes rises around the world, we need to find new strategies for understanding, preventing and treating this serious, chronic disease,” says conference co-arranger Professor Anna Krook at Karolinska Institutet’s Department of Physiology and Pharmacology. “Large data sets, or Big Data, can help us understand how genes and environment interact, giving rise to possibilities for personalised intervention strategies.”
Mark McCarthy from the University of Oxford, UK, is an expert in the analysis of large amounts of genetic data, and he will share insights how this is applied to diabetes research.
Most people who develop type 2 diabetes are never cured and have to live with chronic type 2 diabetes. Prediabetes is a precursor of diabetes found in many people before the diagnosis and as we will hear from Steven E. Kahn from the University of Washington, USA, early intervention can prevent its development into full-blown diabetes.
In recent years, several new drugs for type 2 diabetes have appeared with mechanisms of action that differ from previous therapies. What can we expect next? Maybe an attempt to rescue the beta cells that otherwise suffer burnout as diabetes progresses? This and other conceivable approaches for the future will be addressed by Debbie C. Thurmond from the Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope, USA.
Hunger, the drive to eat, obesity and diabetes will be linked during a presentation by Scott M. Sternson from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, USA. He investigates exactly which brain cells are engaged in the sensation of hunger. Joseph Takahashi from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, USA, is one of the world’s leading researchers in the field of the circadian rhythm, how it operates in different tissues and how its disruption can lead to disease.
Sex and sex hormones have a considerable impact on how diabetes develops, but so far science has not paid this much attention, reasons Deborah Clegg from the Cedars-Sinai Diabetes and Obesity Research Institute, USA. Sex-based research and the gender adaptation of treatment can made a big difference.
Click below for the full seminar programme.
For further details, contact:
Professor Anna Krook
Tel: +46 70 729 2279
Email: anna.krook@ki.se
Press contact Sabina Bossi
Tel: +46 8 524 86066 or +46 70 614 6066
Email: sabina.bossi@ki.se
Karolinska Institutet is one of the world's leading medical universities. Its vision is to significantly contribute to the improvement of human health. Karolinska Institutet accounts for over 40 per cent of the medical academic research conducted in Sweden and offers the country´s broadest range of education in medicine and health sciences. The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet selects the Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine.
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