Diabetes Research Forum 2024
To mark November as Diabetes Awareness Month, the Stanford Diabetes Research Center (SDRC) organizes a Diabetes Research Forum each year. The ninth iteration of this series was held on Nov 15th, 2024 at the Berg Hall in Li Ka Shing Center. Building on recent advancements in GLP-1R research, SDRC hosted the Diabetes Research Forum this year as a joint symposium, featuring speakers from the Center for Diabetes Translational Research (CDTR) and the Nutrition and Obesity Research Center (NORC) at Stanford, with a focus on GLP-1Rs. The event also provided an opportunity for past P&F awardees to showcase their exciting research and offer updates on their work. Attendees included faculty members, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows from within the center. This year's keynote speaker was Dr. Lori Sussel, Director of the University of Colorado Diabetes Research Center (CU-DRC) and Director of Basic and Translational Research at the Barbara Davis Diabetes Center. We had the following speakers:
Lori Sussel, PhD, Professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado (Barbara Davis Center): "Beyond transcription: Regulation of islet cell identity and function"
Mark Huising, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology & Membrane Biology, University of California, Davis: "Dynamic incretin receptor signaling in pancreatic beta cells"
Katrin Svensson, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology, Stanford University:
"Targeting obesity while maintaining muscle health"Tainayah Thomas, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Stanford University: "Race/Ethnicity and Pharmacy Dispensing of SGLT2i and GLP-1 RA in Type 2 Diabetes"
Past Awardees:
Bethany Cummings, DVM, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Surgery, University of California, Davis: "Role of 14-3-3-zeta in islet function"
Xiaohao Wu, PhD, Postdoctoral Scholar, Bill Robinson Lab, Department of Medicine, Stanford University: "Deciphering B Cell Receptor Repertoires in Type 1 Diabetes"
Eric Stice, PhD, Professor, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University: "Evaluation of a brief dissonance-based type 2 diabetes prevention program for adults with prediabetes"
Rachel Adenekan, PhD, Postdoctoral Scholar, Allison Okamura lab, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University: "Smartphone-based Sensory Testing: An Avenue for Early Detection and Monitoring of Patients at Risk of Developing Complications from Diabetes"
Ana Paula Arruda, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Nutritional Science & Toxicology, University of California, Berkeley: "Hepatic inter-organelle communication and metabolic regulation"
Dr. Anna L Gloyn and Dr. Sun Kim, Co-Directors of the SDRC Pilot and Feasibilty Program, showcased the success of the program over the last 9 years. It was exciting to see the breadth of projects that have been funded since the center has received NIH funding. Dr. Gloyn and Dr. Kim highlighted publications and grants that have benefited from pilot funding from SDRC. They also thanked the support of partnering departments and institutes at Stanford that have co-funded pilot awards. The 2024 P&F awardees presented updates on their progress so far and received valuable feedback from members of the diabetes research community. 7 Stanford and 3 regional new pilot awards have been granted in 2024 and the awardees presented their proposed work that will begin in January 2025.
