Advances in Islet Biology

Organizer(s): Lori Sussel, Jorge Ferrer and Andrew F. Stewart

Sponsored by Merck & Co., Inc. and Sanofi US

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Summary of Meeting:

During the past 10 to 15 years, there has been significant progress in our understanding of pancreatic islet development and islet biology. This knowledge has been complemented and accelerated by major advances in diverse fields including islet transplantation, stem cells, small molecule screening, high-throughput sequencing, epigenetics and human genetics. The integration of these divergent disciplines has allowed us to develop a clearer definition of a functional b cell and has elucidated many of the mechanisms underlying the differentiation, survival and death of the b cell. Furthermore, these studies have revealed the potential to generate new b cells through replication or neogenesis. Improvements in differentiation and transdifferentiation protocols have also illustrated the potential of using stem cells and some somatic cell types as sources of islet cells, but these studies have also revealed the challenges associated with generating functional b cells. The purpose of this Keystone Symposia meeting is to highlight the areas of islet biology that have seen the most remarkable advances and to address some of the controversies that still exist in the field, especially with regards to the generation and maintenance of functionally mature b cells for therapeutic purposes. In addition, where it is possible, comparative mouse and human studies will be discussed to illustrate if and when mouse studies can be applied to the human situation.

Scholarship Deadline: November 22 2011

Discounted Abstract Deadline: November 22 2011

Abstract Deadline: January 3 2012

Discounted Registration Deadline: January 25 2012

Keystone Symposia thanks our Sponsor(s) for generously supporting this meeting:

We gratefully acknowledge additional support for this conference from:

We gratefully acknowledge additional in-kind support for this conference from those foregoing speaker expense reimbursements:

Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation

ViaCyte, Inc.

Peter Strop

We gratefully acknowledge the generous grant for this conference provided by:

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
Grant No. 5R13DK084688-03
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