Conference to set the research agenda on Vitamin D in health and disease

An important conference on the actions of Vitamin D on human health is being hosted by Barts and The London Medical School and the MRC Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma.

Vitamin D has been known for some time to be important for healthy bones, now new research suggests it has possible benefits in other aspects of health including immune function, tuberculosis, asthma, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, gut function, skin, and the prostate, all of which will be addressed at the one-day event, being held on Tuesday 30 March at the Centre for Health Sciences in Whitechapel, London.

Attended by expert researchers from around the world the conference aims to stimulate debate, advance understanding, and set the research agenda in this exciting and increasingly topical field.

The programme is as follows:

Session 1 - Epidemiology and Diabetes

10.15am Dr Elina Hyppönen

University College London

Vitamin D in health and disease - insights from epidemiology

10.45am Professor Chantal Mathieu

Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Endocrinology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium

Vitamin D and type 1 diabetes mellitus

11.15am Dr Barbara Boucher

Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry

Vitamin D and type 2 diabetes

Session 2 - Immunomodulatory actions of Vitamin D

12.00pm Dr Jürgen Schauber

University of Munich, Germany

Vitamin D and the cutaneous innate immune system

12.30pm Professor Margherita Cantorna

Pennsylvania State University, USA

Vitamin D and autoimmune disease

1.00pm Professor Kasia Hawrylowicz

King's College London

Vitamin D, regulatory T cells and allergic disease

Session 3: Clinical aspects 1: prostate and gut

2.15pm Dr Luciano Adorini

Chief Scientific Officer

Intercept Pharma, Italy

Vitamin D receptor agonists in the treatment of inflammatory prostatic disease

2.45pm Dr Julian Walters

Imperial College, London

Vitamin D and the gut

Session 4 - Clinical aspects 2: tuberculosis and multiple sclerosis

3.30pm Dr Adrian Martineau

Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry

Vitamin D and tuberculosis

4.30pm Professor George Ebers

Oxford University

Vitamin D and multiple sclerosis

The event will be chaired by Professor Chris Griffiths of the Centre for Health Sciences at Barts and The London Medical School.

Provided by Queen Mary, University of London