Cardiometabolic Medicines From the Gut: The Glucagon-Like Peptide Story

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2020 Warren Alpert Foundation Prize Virtual Symposium

In honor of Daniel Drucker, Joel Habener, Jens Juul Holst for identifying the family of Glucagon-Like Peptides through studies extending from cells to humans, culminating in the development of these peptides and related pathway-modifiers as important new classes of therapeutic agents for treating diabetes, obesity and short bowel syndrome.

Daniel J. Drucker

Daniel J. Drucker | 2020 Recipient

Dr. Daniel J. Drucker is an Endocrinologist and Professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto. Dr. Drucker received training in Internal Medicine and Endocrinology from the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and the Toronto General Hospital, University of Toronto and completed a research fellowship in Molecular Endocrinology (1984-87) at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Drucker established his own laboratory research program in 1987 in Toronto.

A pioneer in diabetes treatment, Dr. Drucker's work has provided important insights leading to the development of new drugs for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes. Currently, his laboratory at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum focuses on understanding the molecular biology and physiology of glucagon-like peptides.

He is the recipient of the 2009 Clinical Investigator Award from The Endocrine Society,  2011 Oon International Award for Preventive Medicine, Cambridge University School of Medicine, 2014 Banting Medal for Scientific Achievement, American Diabetes Association, 2014 Manpei Suzuki International Prize for Diabetes Research, Manpei Suzuki Foundation, 2015 Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of London, 2015 Appointed Officer of the Order of Canada.

Joel Habener

Joel Habener | 2020 Recipient

Joel Francis Habener, M.D. received his B.S. degree Cum Laude in 1960 from the University of Redlands, Redlands, California and in 1965 his M.D degree from the University of California School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California.  Dr. Habener is Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School, Associate Physician at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and a former Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.  He is the Director of the Laboratory of Molecular Endocrinology in the Department of Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital.

His research interests are in the fields of obesity, diabetes, and metabolism with a focus on the interactions of growth factors and morphogens on the expression of transcription factors during development and in the regulation of hormone production by endocrine organs of the body.  He has authored over 450 research articles, books and reviews on these subjects.  He is a discoverer of the insulinotropic hormone glucagon-like peptide-1, cyclic AMP response element binding protein, the pancreas duodenal homeodomain protein, and the existence of multipotent stem cells in the pancreas. Dr. Habener holds several patents on these discoveries. Dr. Habener’s discoveries contributed to the development of glucagon-like peptide-1, currently successfully in use as a treatment for diabetes.

Dr. Habener is a member of several editorial boards of scientific journals and has served on many advisory committees of pharmaceutical companies and the National Institutes of Health.  He is the recipient of several awards, including the Edwin B. Astwood Award, Robert H. Williams Distinguished Leadership Award, and Outstanding Mentorship Lauriet Award by the Endocrine Society, and the Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine (shared) from the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Harrington Discovery Institute.

Jens Juul Holst

Jens Juul Holst | 2020 Recipient

Jens Juul Holst is a professor at the Department of Biomedical Sciences and at the same time affiliated with the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research. Jens Juul Holst's research concentrates on appetite regulation and hormones that regulate metabolism (digestion).

Jens is head of a research group that focuses on obesity and type 2 diabetes, especially with the aim of mapping hormonal disorders and the possibilities of treatment based on hormones. He has also taken part in developing a wide range of drugs used in treatment of type 2 diabetes.

He is the recipient of several prizes including the 2017  UCPH Innovation Prize, 2017 The Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine, 2015 The Nordic Fernström Prize, 2013 The Anders Jahre Senior Medical Prize, 2013 The Marie and August Krogh Award, 2012 The European Medal of the Society for Endocrinology, 2010 The Bagger-Sørensen Award (DKK 500,000), and 2009 KFJ prize of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Copenhagen.

Jens is co-founder of start-ups, including Antag Therapeutics and Bainen Biotech.

Symposium Program

Each year the recipient(s) of the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize are recognized at a scientific symposium hosted by Harvard Medical School.

Featured Speakers include:

Fiona Gribble, DPhil, BM, BCh

Professor of Endocrine Physiology WT-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science University of Cambridge

Gut endocrine cells - chemosensors of the postprandial state

Jens Juul Holst, MD, DMSc

Professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Group Leader Translational Metabolic Physiology, Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research University of Copenhagen

GLP-1 in humans

Joel Habener, MD

Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School Director of the Laboratory of Molecular Endocrinology, Massachusetts General Hospital

Glucagon-like Peptide-1: Discovery, Structure, Activity

Daniel Drucker, MD

Senior Scientist, the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Canada, Professor of Medicine, University of Toronto

The protean peptide GLP-1; From metabolism to inflammation and cardioprotection

Matthias H. Tschöp, MD

Alexander von Humboldt Professor, Technical University of Munich Chief Executive Officer and Scientific Director, Helmholtz Center Munich

Glucagon-like polyagonists - discovery, mechanism and clinical translation

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Past Symposia

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I am truly honored to be a recipient of the Alpert Award. It is especially meaningful to be recognized by my colleagues for discoveries that helped define the biology of the CTLA-4 and PD-1 pathways. The clinical translation of our fundamental understanding of these pathways illustrates the value of basic science research, and I hope this inspires other scientists.
- Arlene Sharpe

Arlene Sharpe | 2017 Recipient

Dr. Sharpe received her A.B. from Harvard University, where she did undergraduate thesis research in the laboratory of Dr. Jack Strominger.  She received her M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard Medical School where she did PhD thesis research on reovirus pathogenesis in the laboratory of Dr. Bernard Fields. She completed residency training in Pathology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Dr. Rudolf Jaenisch at the Whitehead Institute.

She currently is the George Fabyan Professor of Comparative Pathology, Head of the Division of Immunology, and Interim Co-Chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunobiology at Harvard Medical School. She is a member of the Department of Pathology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, an Associate Member at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and Leader of the Cancer Immunology Program at the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. Dr. Sharpe is the Co-Director of the Evergrande Center for Immunologic Diseases at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She has served as a member and chair of the NIH Hypersensitivity, Autoimmunity and Immune-mediated diseases (HAI) study section and is currently a member of NIAID Council. She is also the President of the American Association of Immunologists.

Dr. Sharpe’s functional analysis of costimulatory pathways regulating T cell activation has led to understanding of (1) the roles of B7-1 and B7-2 as positive regulators through CD28 and (2) negative regulators through CTLA-4, and (3) the role of PD-L1 and PD-L2 as negative regulators through PD-1. This functional characterization has provided critical translational insights that underpinned development of immunotherapies for cancer, autoimmune diseases, and transplant rejection.

Dr. Sharpe’s laboratory currently investigates the roles of T cell costimulatory and coinhibitory pathways in regulating T cell tolerance and effective antimicrobial and antitumor immunity, and translating fundamental understanding of T cell costimulation into new therapies for autoimmune diseases and cancer. Dr. Sharpe has published over 300 papers and was listed by Thomas Reuters as one of the most Highly Cited Researchers (top 1%) in 2014 and 2015 and a 2016 Citation Laureate. She received the William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Tumor immunology in 2014 for her contributions to the discovery of PD-1 pathway.

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