Diabetes: Glucose Control and Beyond

Keystone Symposia, Silverthorne CO

Investigators

Abstract

ABSTRACT Support is requested for a Keystone Symposia conference entitled Diabetes: Glucose Control and Beyond, organized by Drs. Alan D. Attie and Deborah M. Muoio. The conference will be held in Santa Fe, New Mexico from January 27-31, 2020. Modern technology has created a favorable climate for the ?perfect metabolic storm?. Triggered by lifestyle habits that promote overnutrition and inactivity, Westernized societies are experiencing epidemic rates of obesity and its attendant co-morbidities. Foremost among these is type 2 diabetes mellitus, which is projected to reach a global prevalence of 10% by the year 2045. This grim epidemiological forecast has inspired intense efforts to unravel the molecular mechanisms that link positive energy balance to glucose intolerance and metabolic decline. This conference will assemble international leaders and rising stars in diverse biomedical disciplines with common interests in understanding and combatting cardiometabolic diseases. The program showcases new insights into the molecular underpinnings of obesity-induced dysfunction of the major peripheral organs that coordinate energy flux and glucose control: skeletal and cardiac muscles, the pancreas, adipose tissue, the liver and gut. Thematic emphasis will center on nutrient sensing and signaling, inter-organ crosstalk, mechanisms of insulin resistance, mitochondrial bioenergetics, islet biology and genetics of diabetes. A major goal of the conference is to provide a forum that encourages interactions between basic and translational scientists at all career levels to critically evaluate recent advances and current controversies. Opportunities for interdisciplinary interactions will be further enhanced by the concurrent meeting on Islet Biology: From Gene to Cell to Micro-Organ, which will consider metabolism in relation to islet function, in addition to studies of islet cell plasticity and differentiation.