Diabetes Experts of Tomorrow Meet at the Helmholtz Diabetes Conference 2023

Significant scientific breakthroughs improving the quality of life for diabetes patients can only be realized through global collaboration among diabetes researchers. Consequently, the Helmholtz Diabetes Conference enhances the opportunities for exchange between experienced experts and novel ideas coming from emerging researchers in the field. Next to fascinating talks, the conference offered flash-talk sessions, where young investigators get direct feedback on their presentations from world-renowned diabetes scientists, and a lot of space for casual exchange and open discussions. “It has been a good tradition over the past decade. This is an international crowd with best the speakers, and of course, young researchers have the chance to interact with them,” exclaimed Stephan Herzig, organizer and host of the conference, excitedly at the beginning of the conference. Alongside Stephan Herzig, co-organizers Prof. Henrik Semb and Prof. Matthias Hebrok from Helmholtz Munich provided their invaluable support to the conference.

With more than 200 attendees the conference had an ideal size: It allows for new insights into the full diversity of current research areas and is also intimate enough to facilitate meaningful interactions, networking, and knowledge exchange. Next to the main thematic focus of diabetes and metabolism, the critical subjects of obesity and precision medicine were intensively discussed.

On the last day of the conference, exceptional scientific accomplishments and captivating presentations were celebrated with awards. The Helmholtz Young Investigator in Diabetes (HeIDi) Award, acknowledging young, promising leaders in diabetes research, was awarded to Dr. Lisa Beutler from Northwestern University and Dr.Elisa de Franco coming from the University of Exeter this year, recognizing their outstanding contributions. Additionally, the Helmholtz Best EMBO J Flash-Talk Award was presented to Martha Hanschkow.whose presentation stood out as the best of its kind during the conference. Furthermore, Prof. Ron Evans from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies received the distinguished Helmholtz Diabetes Lecture Award for his remarkable lifetime achievements and leadership in the field of diabetes and metabolism research.