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Outstanding Awards for DZD Researchers at the EASD Third DZD Research School Is Great Success

Scientists of the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD) are well represented in the presentation and poster program of the 51st Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), which is currently taking place in Stockholm, and will be honored with three major awards. As in previous years, the DZD Diabetes Research School in advance of the congress was met with great enthusiasm by the young scientists from all over the world who participated in the event.

With around 20,000 attendees from around the world, the EASD Annual Meeting is the largest European diabetes conference. Here DZD scientists are presenting current findings of translational diabetes research in lectures and posters.

Claude Bernard Prize, Minkowski Prize and Rising Star Award for DZD Scientists
After the opening ceremony, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hans-Ulrich Häring, DZD speaker and medical director of Medical Clinic IV of the University of Tübingen, was awarded the Claude Bernard Prize by the president of the EASD, who lauded Prof. Häring’s outstanding contribution to the advancement of diabetes research. In his Claude Bernard Lecture, Prof. Häring emphasized the significance of various prediabetes phenotypes for targeted prevention of type 2 diabetes.

Prof. Dr. Matthias Blüher of the University of Leipzig, an associated partner of the DZD, received this year’s Minkowski Prize for his research on the role of adipose tissue in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. The Minkowski Prize is one of the most prestigious awards for young European scientists in diabetes research.

Dr. Martin Heni of the Institute for Diabetes Research and Metabolic Diseases at the University of Tübingen will be honored on Friday with the Rising Star Award of the EASD for his research on the effect of insulin on the human brain and its significance for the metabolism.

The DZD stand in the Associations’ Village is a popular international meeting place for scientific discussions.

Successful DZD Diabetes Research School
On September 13–14, in advance of the EASD conference, young scientists from various countries exchanged ideas at the 3rd DZD Diabetes Research School. Six renowned professors granted the young researchers insight into new research trends:

  • Barbara Cannon (Stockholm University / Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences)
    Brown fat and obesity
  • Leif Groop (Malmö University)
    Can genetics of diabetes be translated into the clinic?
  • Philip Larsen (Sanofi)
    Innovation for the diabetes patient: the end of drug discovery as we know it
  • Patrik Rorsman (Oxford University)
    Glucagon secretion - a sadly neglected player in diabetes research?
  • Ulf Smith (Gothenburg University)
    The role of adipose tissue in insulin resistance
  • Claes Wollheim (Geneva University)
    The islet beta cell is an insulin factory, whose output is dysregulated in type 2 diabetes

The students and postdocs participated with great enthusiasm in the event, which was chaired by Prof. Dr. Dr. Michele Solimena, DZD board member and director of the Paul Langerhans Institute Dresden, and Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hans-Ulrich Häring. For the first time, the DZD Diabetes Research School offered the young scientists the opportunity to present their research in a poster session. The 86 participants came from 19 different countries and were able to make numerous international contacts.