York U to host Canada-Korea diabetes research symposium and free public lecture

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TORONTO, July 31, 2013 – On Friday, Aug. 2, 2013 York University will host The Canada-Korea Diabetes Research Initiative Symposium, a one-day event bringing together top diabetes researchers from Canada and Korea to share the latest news and treatments for the disease.

“The main focus of the symposium is to disseminate knowledge, engage new partners and learn more about current research activities in diabetes at both Korean and Canadian Institutions,” says York biology Professor Gary Sweeney of the Faculty of Science. “It represents an outstanding opportunity to share information resulting from research activities and findings in the area of mechanistic and translational studies in diabetes.”

Along with several scientific sessions throughout the day, the symposium will include a free public lecture “Understanding Diabetes and Treatments”, from 5:30 to 6:30pm. This lecture will be delivered in both English and Korean in adjacent rooms, and features University of Sungkyunkwan Professor Sung-Woo Park of the Korean Diabetes Association and Kangbuk Samsung Hospital along with University of British Columbia Professor Brian Rodrigues of the Canadian Diabetes Association. The speakers will go over the causes, symptoms and current available treatments for diabetes.

Other highlights:

Minna Woo of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, University Health Network/Mount Sinai Hospital, will talk about dissecting the signaling pathways that control inflammation and metabolism in diabetes.

Myungshik Lee of the Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Korea, will look at how autophagy deficiency in insulin target tissues leads to protection from obesity and insulin resistance.

Tony Lam of the Banting & Best Diabetes Centre, University of Toronto, will examine glucagon and insulin signaling in the brain.

Gary Lopaschuk of the University of Alberta will discuss the contribution of diabetes and obesity to heart failure.

Minho Shong of the Chungnam National University, Daejeon, Korea, will talk about mitochondrial dysfunction in metabolic diseases.

Zayna Khayat of the International Centre for Health Innovation at the Ivey School of Business, London, Ont., will look at the end of the road in value capture from diabetes innovations: uptake by patients, practitioners and health systems.

For more information, please visit: http://biology.blog.yorku.ca/ckd

What: The Canada-Korea Diabetes Research Initiative Symposium public lecture, Understanding Diabetes and Treatments
Where: 105 Life Science Building, York University, Keele campus (see map)
When:  Friday, Aug. 2, 5:30-6:30pm

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Media Contact: Robin Heron, Media Relations, York University, 416-736-2100 x22097/ rheron@yorku.ca