As I write this, I am on a plane to Orlando. Orlando, Florida!
Yes, I know it will be humid. And, not, I’m not going to Disney World. But I’m incredibly excited anyway, because (1) I’ve never been to Florida, and (2) I’ll be attending the American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions as well as (3) the Roche Social Media Summit.
The ADA 70th Annual Scientific Sessions is a meeting of thousands of diabetics, doctors, educators, researchers, and others from all over the world to hear presentations of the latest scientific news from all the corners of the diabetic world. From June 25th through June 29th, attendees will have access to a series of oral presentations, poster sessions, symposia, researcher lectures, and corporate exhibitions covering eight different areas of diabetes medicine:
- Acute and Chronic Complications
- Behavioral Medicine; Clinical Nutrition; Education and Exercise
- Clinical Diabetes/Therapeutics; Health Care Delivery and Economics; Pediatrics; Pregnancy
- Epidemiology/Genetics
- Immunology/Transplantation
- Insulin Signaling/Insulin Action
- Integrated Physiology or Obesity
- Islet Biology/Insulin Secretion
Given my interest in learning as much about this disease as I can handle, I am thrilled to be able to attend and report for A Sweet Life on some of the research and results being presented. Some particularly promising sessions from a very long list of presentations:
Joint ADA/JDRF Symposium: The Artificial Pancreas
I want one, I want one now. And so I’m excited to hear about the latest advances from Aaron Kowalski, William Tamborlane, and others.
Newer Insulins– As they approach availability, what should we know about them?
In addition to all the presentations, a big part of (and presumably a big funder of) the ADA Scientific Sessions is booths and exhibitions put together by a variety of pharmaceutical, biotech, and diabetes care management companies. Many of these companies come promising newer, faster, better insulins– so I am interested to hear some of the science behind the flashy promotional material.
Thyroid Hormone Signaling in Insulin Action and Metabolism
I’ve been reading a fair amount of lately about nuclear receptors and transrepression pathways, especially as they relate to innate and adaptive immune cell pathways, so I look forward to the presentations at this symposium, especially Anthony Hollenberg;s talk on “Nuclear Corepressors, Thyroid Hormone Action, and Insulin Action in the Liver (NCOR).”
Novel Immune Mechanisms in Diabetes
Looking through the list of speakers at this particular symposium, I thought to myself, “Martin Hessner– why is that name familiar?” Looking down at my desk, I see I have printed out in my “To Read” pile one of the very papers Hessner is speaking on– “Identification of a Molecular Signature in Human Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus Using Serum and Functional Genomics.” Molecular signatures? And functional genomics? I am so there.
And as if that weren’t fun enough, the second leg of my trip will be to the Roche Social Media Summit. There, a number of diabetes writers who I know thus far only via their virtual personas will meet to ponder and discuss many things diabetes, including meter accuracy regulations, the definition and role of standards in the pharmaceutical and medical industries, and the responsibility and promise of social media to the diabetic world. Great and likely fruitful discussions aside, I just can’t wait to meet everyone!
So, yes, I’m going to Orlando, and, no, I’m not going to Disney World, or even the new Universal Studios Harry Potter extravaganza. But given how excited I am to be meeting so many great people in person, and to be hearing about so much diabetic science, I bet I would give any Harry Potter fanboy a run for his money.
Karmel: It’s ll be grea to meet you! I’m not in Orlando for the ADA meeting, but will be for Roche come Monday night. Looking forward to meeting so many great people from the DOC! Even if we won’t be heading to the Harry Potter exhibit, we’ll be awesome.