Grant: Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

Founded in 1992, the Boston Ithaca Islet Club (BIIC) is a network of researchers from Massachusetts, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa. Every year since its inception, an annual meeting has been held, and these BIIC meetings focus on sharing exciting advances in pancreatic islet function, development and growth, immunology, and their implications in type 1 and type 2 diabetes development. An emphasis on communicating unpublished findings is strongly encouraged among attendees. The 2025 edition of the BIIC will take place on April 5th and 6th, 2025, at the Université de Montréal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM). As with previous meetings, it will be trainee-focused, meaning that graduate students and postdoctoral fellows will give the majority of presentations and chair sessions. An emphasis on networking among trainees, early-career researchers, and established investigators will be encouraged, as this collegiality will allow participants to establish new collaborations, maintain relationships, and build a research network that spans Canada and the USA. Trainee development is one of the cornerstones of the BIIC, and several generations of islet biologists that participated in previous editions of the BIIC have become successful, independent investigators in academia or industry. With over 30 years of continuous success, the BIIC is a great achievement and represents a unique training and networking environment for future generations of islet biologist in Canada and the USA.