Imaging the Pancreatic Beta Cell - Washington, D.C. - Professional Diabetes Conferences

Imaging the Pancreatic Beta Cell - Washington, D.C.
April 6-7, 2009
Marriott at Metro Center

The purpose of the ‘Imaging the Pancreatic Beta Cell, Fourth Workshop’ to be held on April 6-7, 2009, is to explore the considerable progress and foster collaborative research in the field of imaging the pancreatic islet cell mass, function, or inflammation in health and disease. The overall intended goal of the field is to develop clinically useful imaging approaches for monitoring the mass, function and inflammation of endogenous and transplanted islets and beta cells in type 1 and type 2 diabetic patients and those at risk for these diseases, in order to understand the natural history of disease and monitor therapy.

This will be an open meeting with free registration, and all interested people are invited to attend. Posters and talks at the workshop will be chosen from submitted abstracts. The international workshop will provide a venue to encourage interaction between research projects funded by the European Commission’s EU Framework Programmes, JDRF, NIH and others. A panel discussion with members from the FDA, industry, NIH program and review staff, and the International European Commission's 7th Research Framework Programme will explore regulatory, public funding, and private-public partnership issues of interest to those working to image the beta cell.

The workshop will showcase in vivo and in vitro imaging studies and technological approaches aimed at visualizing the mass, inflammation and function of endogenous or transplanted pancreatic islets and/or beta cells in vivo, as well as imaging studies in isolated cells and tissues. We would welcome projects that describe aspects of the beta cell, islet or pancreas useful for imaging, such as uniquely expressed surface markers and other proteins, novel highly specific antibodies, islet nerve and neurotransmitter biology, and vasculature biology. Also of interest are novel imaging approaches that can be applied to the pancreatic beta cell or used to study the pathogenesis or natural history of diabetes. A more developed list of projects that would be appropriate for presentation at the workshop can be found in the agenda.

Suggested topics include but are not restricted to:

* Molecular imaging of the endogenous pancreatic islet.
* Imaging islet inflammation.
* Imaging transplanted allogeneic or xenogeneic islets.
* Animal models for imaging beta cells.
* Functional imaging in animals, tissues and cells.
* Identifying beta cell surface targets and ligands for imaging.
* Emerging technologies with applications for pancreatic islet imaging.
* Imaging metabolic or physiological phenomena related to islet function, vascularization, apoptosis, or regeneration.

Co-chairs
Anna Moore, Ph.D.
Massachusetts General Hospital

Martin Gotthardt, M.D., Ph.D.
Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, The Netherlands

Paul Harris, Ph.D.
Columbia University Medical College

Other Organizers
Chhanda Dutta, Ph.D., NIA
Tom Esch, Ph.D., NIAID
Maren Laughlin, Ph.D., NIDDK
Alan McLaughlin, Ph.D., NIBIB
Nathalie Vercruysse, Ph.D., the European Commission
Adrianne Wong, Ph.D., JDRF
Yantian Zhang, Ph.D., NIBIB

Workshop Sponsors
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
International European Commission's 7th Research Framework Programme
National Institute of Aging
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services