On July 2-5, Catholic University in Lyon, France, hosted the 17th World Congress of the International Pancreas and Islet Transplant Association. Nearly 350 attendees from over 30 countries and 5 continents discussed the latest developments in beta cell replacement to treat type 1 diabetes. It was an exciting time, as Southern France was in the midst of a record heatwave with temperatures to 45.9˚C, IPITA shared Lyon’s international stage with the FIFA Women’s World Cup semifinals in which the US team prevailed over a spirited UK team.

The Congress began with a pre-meeting focused on follow-up of the consensus conference held by IPITA in Igls, Austria, in 2017 that established a paradigm to define post-transplant beta cell function; such criteria have long been lacking in the field and will facilitate scientific comparison of outcomes of various approaches to beta cell replacement. The meeting proper centered on advances in pancreas and islet transplantation as well as new developments in artificial pancreas, stem cells and beta cells, xeno-islets and blastocyst complementation to generate human organs in animal hosts.

Several highlights from the meeting merit specific mention. First is the fine work of the Young Investigators Committee (YIC) which not only developed and ran an excellent pre-meeting pancreas recovery simulation session, but also orchestrated the “Cavemen versus Dinosaurs” debate forum during which the YIC Cavemen challenged long-held dogma about pancreas and islet transplantation that the more mature Dinosaurs tried to defend; it was an epic battle in which both sides claimed victory.

Second, there was clear evidence presented of improved results for both isolated islet and whole organ pancreas transplant. The value of these options was poignantly illustrated in testimonials by type 1 patients during two plenary sessions about living with T1D and the impact of a cure. Most exciting though may the report of plans for the first non-encapsulated trial of porcine islets with clinically relevant immunosuppression, and the critical mass of academic and industry teams progressing toward clinical evaluation of stem cell derived islets.

Please join IPITA to continue these discussions at the Third Opinion Leaders meeting on Stem Cell Derived Beta Cells on April 21-22, 2020 in Boston, MA, at the Martin Conference Center at Harvard Medical School. And, we look forward to seeing substantive additional progress over the next two years when we convene the tri-partite meeting of IPITA, IXA, and CTRMS to be held October 20-25 in 2021 San Diego, California.

Finally, on behalf of the Association, we wish to thank Dr. Thierry Berney for his strong and able leadership as IPITA President over the past two years.  

IPITA 2019 Award Winners

IPITA Young Investigator Awards

• Antonio Citro
  San Raffaele Institute, Milan, Italy
  Bioengineering of an iPSC Derived Vascularized Endocrine Organ for T1D
• Michiel Nijhoff
  Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
  Long-Term Outcomes of Pancreas-After-Kidney and Islet-after-Kidney Transplantation
• Silvia Pellegrini
  San Raffaele Institute, Milan, Italy
  Insulin Producing Cells Derived from Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (Ipsc): A Comparison with Human Islets
• Prathab Saravanan
  Baylor transplant Institute, Dallas, USA
  Withaferin A Attenuates Release of Exosomal Isletokines in Response to Islet ER Stress
• Riccardo Tamburrini
  Wake Forest, Winston Salem, USA
  Novel Water-based, Detergent-free Decellularization to Produce Bioactive ECM-based Scaffolds for Pancreatic Islets Transplantation
• Nathan Zammit
  Garvan Institute, Sydney, Australia
  Optimisation of an Adeno-Associated Virus Gene Delivery into Neonatal Porcine Islets

TTS Young Investigator Awards

• Ibrahim Fathi
  Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
  Krp-203 as a Desirable Immunomodulator for Islet Transplantation
• Austin Feeney
  University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA
  BMI is not Universally Predictive of Pancreas and Islet Lipid Content
• Fanny Lebreton
  University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
  Shielding Islets with Human Amniotic Epithelial Cells Protects Islets Against Hypoxia and Enhances Islet Engraftment and Revascularization after Transplantation in a Murin Diabetic Model
• Daniel Tremmel
  University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA
  Reconstructing the In Vivo Niche for Improved Islet Culture and Transplantation
• Charles-Henri Wassmer
  University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
  Assessment of Insulin Sensitivity in Pancreas and Islet Transplant Recipients