Collaboration at Department of Medical Cell Biology
Clinical collaborations and translational research
The research at the Department of Medical Cell Biology is linked to several clinical problems, and one of the major aims of the Department is to perform innovative translational research leading to new advances within modern diagnostics and therapy. Several close collaborations and clinical trials are ongoing involving groups at the Department and affiliated hospitals and companies, and the Department has recently produced several spinoff companies. The Department has several researchers that are clinically active, and that help bridging basic experimental research and clinical research, to provide excellent conditions for successful translational research.
Forum for Diabetes Research
Ray A. and Robert L. Kroc Lecture
The annual Kroc lecture at the medical faculty, Uppsala University, was originally financed by a donation from The Kroc Foundation, Santa Barbara, California, USA. In 1954 Ray A. Kroc (1902-1984) started the well-known hamburger chain McDonald’s, which soon made him one of the wealthiest entrepreneurs in USA. His desire to donate some of the profit to charity was realized in 1965 by the establishment of Ray A. Kroc Foundation in Chicago. The aim of the Foundation was to support research on chronic diseases including diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis. The following 20 years Ray’s brother Robert L. Kroc (born 1907; originally working with endocrine research within the drug industry) was chairman of the foundation. During this period about 370 million SEK were distributed to research groups within USA but also to some foreign groups, one of which were at the Department of Medical Cell Biology, Uppsala University. The latter support focused on research on treatment of diabetes by transplantation of insulin producing cells.
Ray A. (right) and Robert L. Kroc
After Ray A. Kroc’s demise the foundation was dissolved in April 1985. On this occasion several donations were awarded including 3 grants to Professorships (1 million USD each) and 84 grants to annual lectures (50 000 USD each) at different universities and research centres. Five of those were awarded to countries outside USA (Canada, England and Sweden). The donation to Sweden went to Uppsala University and the purpose was that the revenue should support an annual lecture about diabetes research. All lecturers have been internationally leading scientists in the diabetes field and the donation has played an important role to develop an international network for diabetes research in Uppsala.
Kroc lectures
2019 Matthias v Herrath
New and sometimes surprising
insights into the pathology of human
type 1 diabetes and therapeutic
avenues
La Jolla Institute for Immunology
Div. of Developmental Immunology
La Jolla, California, USA
2018 Pirjo Nuutila
Lessons from metabolic disorders
and Type 2 diabetes using imaging
Turku PET Centre,
University of Turku and
Dept. of Endocrinology,
Turku University Hospital
Turku, Finland
2017 Mark A Atkinson
Recent Lessons from the Human
Pancreas – Re-writing the Textbooks
on How Type 1 Diabetes Develops
University of Florida
Dept of Pathology, Immunology
and Laboratory Medicine
Gainesville, Florida, USA
2015 Harry Heimberg
Reprogramming Pancreatic
Exocrine to Beta Cells
Diabetes Research Center
Vrije Universiteit Brussels
Bryssel, Belgien
2014 Andrew F Stewart
Obstacles and advances in human beta cell proliferation for diabetes
Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism Institute
Mount Sinai Scool of Medicine
New York, USA
2013 Ezio Bonifacio
Shaping pre-type 1 diabetes
Preclinical Stem Cells / Diabetes Center for Regenerative Therapies,
Dresden, Germany
2012 Susumo Seino
Cell signaling in insulin secretion - interplay of glucose metabolism, cAMP, and sulfonylurea
Department of Physiology and Cellular Biology, Kobe University,
Kobe, Japan
2011 Gordon Weir
The Challenge of ß-cell Replacement for Diabetes
Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
2010 Steven E. Kahn
The Critical Role of ß-cell Function and Mass in Glucose Regulation?
Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology and Nutrition, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
2009 Timo Otonkoski
Remaking human beta-cells
Children’s Hospital and Biomedicum Stem Cell Center, University of Helsinki,
Helsinki, Finland
2008 Frances M Ashcroft
K-ATP channels and neonatal diabetes: from molecule to novel therapy
Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford,
Oxford, UK
2007 Nicholas J Wareham
Genes and lifestyle factors in the aetiology of type 2 diabetes
MRC Epidemiology Unit and Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK
2006 Susan
Bonner-Weir
Neogenesis occurs : direct evidence of pancreatic progenitors by lineage tracing
Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
2005 Patrik Rorsman
Glucagon secretion : A sadly neglected component of diabetes?
Division of Diabetes, Metabolism and Endocrinology, University of Lund,
Lund, Sweden
2004 Jean-Phillipe Assal
Diesease centered and patient centered: Can these two dimensions of care really live together?
University of Geneva,
Geneva, Switzerland
2003 Anne Clark
The beta cell defect and type 2 diabetes: lessons from biophysics, cell biology and microscopy
Diabetes Research Laboratory,
University of Oxford, UK
2002 Lois Jovanovic
Modern management of gestational diabetes
Sansum Diabetes Research Institute,
Santa Barbara, USA
2001 Ray V Rajotte
Islet transplantation – past, present, future
Surgical Medical Research Institute, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
2000 Mikael Knip
Type 1 diabetes: From genetic susceptibility to clinical disease
Department of Pediatrics, Medical School, University of Tampere, Finland
1999 Claes B Wollheim
Role of mitochondria in metabolism secretion coupling in the pancreatic beta-cells
Division of Clinical Biochemistry and Experimental Diabetology, Department of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland
1998 Oluf Pedersen
Molecular genetics of non-autoimmune diabetes mellitus – short cuts to rational therapy and prevention
Steno Diabetes Center,
Copenhagen, Denmark
1997 Ole D Madsen
Pluripotent islet tumours – tools to study aspects of diabetes and islet cell diferentiation
Hagedorn Research Institute,
Gentofte, Denmark
1996 Hannele Yki-Järvinen
Insulin resistance as defence mechanism in diabetes
University of Helsinki,
Helsinki, Finland
1995 Danny Pipeleers
A beta-cell biologist’s view on clinical diabetes
Vrije Universiteit,
Brussels, Belgium
1994 Robert C Turner
Treatment of type 2 diabetes – Lessons from the UK Diabetes Prospective Study
University of Oxford,
Oxford, UK
1993 Donald F Steiner
Thebiosynthesis of islet hormones – New insights from molecular biology
University of Chicago,
Chicago, USA
1992 C Nicholas Hales
Insulin secretion in type 2 diabetes
University of Cambridge,
Cambridge, UK
1991 Eleuterio Ferrannini
Insulin sensitivity in health and disease
University of Pisa,
Pisa, Italy
1990 David ER Sutherland
Transplantation in diabetes mellitus
University of Minnesota School of Medicine, Minneapolis, USA
1989 Philip E Cryer
Hypoglycemia: The limiting factor in the management of insulin dependent diabetes mellitus
Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, USA
1988 Norbert Freinkel
On honeybees and neural tubes: The spectrum of fuels-mediated teratogenesis
Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, USA
1987 Jörn Nerup
On the pathogenesis of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus
Steno Memorial Hospital,
Copenhagen Denmark
1986 Paul E Lacy
Islet transplantation – present status
Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, USA