The JDRF Center for Beta Cell Therapy in Diabetes annually organizes an interactive training course. The course is open to members and to external scientists.

The purpose is to present and discuss research projects of the center from their rationale, over their experimental design to the interpretation of data in a broader context. Attention will be paid to controversies in the literature and to advances and obstacles in methodology. Attendants are encouraged to actively participate in all parts of the program.

Participation for new member states is encouraged and will receive financial support from the EU grant.

Read more about our first training course on "Cell Programming to Beta Cells".

Jonathan Slack will organize this second year's training course on "Transdifferentiation to Beta Cells" in Bath.

This training course will provide a comprehensive overview of the mechanisms of cell type stability and cell type switching. It will explore the current strategies for making pancreatic beta cells from other cell types and their application for the cell therapy of diabetes.

Major themes:

--- Cell type switching
- Introduction to transdifferentiation
- Transdifferentiation in regeneration
- Cell type stability & chromatin structure

--- Beta cells
- Phenotyping beta cells for therapy
- Pancreatic cell lineages
- Getting genes into cells

--- Making beta cells from other cell types
- Beta cells from acinar cells, ducts and intestine
- Interconversions of liver and pancreas
- Beta-like cells from human foetal liver

--- Other tissue interconversions
- Thymus and pancreas relationship
- Reprogramming gut epithelium
- Nuclear reprogramming

Confirmed speakers are J. Slack, J. Brockes, J. Ferrer, D. Pipeleers, P. Herrera, P. Ravassard, L. Bouwens, H. Heimberg, G. Gradwohl, D. Tosh, S. Efrat, C. Blackburn, F. Beck and J. Gurdon.

The program also includes:

-- poster session
-- methods discussions
-- networking opportunities

Download the complete program (pdf) and the program poster.

Participant information

The training course will be held at the University of Bath, Bath, UK.

Get directions to the University of Bath: international travellers to Bath; travelling to the university; city map and campus map.

Who can apply?

This course is targeted to young investigators and PhD students whose research activity concerns developmental biology, stem cell biology, or the cell biology of diabetes.

The objective of the course is to teach participants (i) the normal mechanisms of cell commitment and cell type switching (ii) the techniques that may be employed to reprogram cells to a beta cell phenotype (iii) techniques for cell characterization and cell therapy.

Course participants are encouraged to present their research in a poster format.

How to apply

- All applicants should complete and fax or e-mail the application form.

- For non-members JDRF Center for Beta Cell Therapy in Diabetes (and for members competing for a travel grant):

Please add CV plus letter (max. 1 page) outlining:

-- Your current research activities and future plans
-- Why you want to attend
-- Whether you have already worked on cell type switching, stem cells or pancreatic cells

The deadline for application is March 1, 2007.

Download here the application form.

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