The first EASD Immunology School for Endocrinology, held in Vienna, Austria on 26–27 March 2026, explored emerging opportunities in type 1 diabetes care arising from the remarkable advances in our understanding of the disease.
The first EASD Immunology School for Endocrinology, held in Vienna, Austria on 26–27 March 2026, explored emerging opportunities in type 1 diabetes care arising from the remarkable advances in our understanding of the disease.
Organised by EASD Past President Chantal Mathieu, the highly interactive two-day school brought together early-career healthcare professionals specialising in endocrinology and diabetes care from across Europe to discuss and adopt screening and early intervention strategies in early-stage type 1 diabetes.
Alongside Prof. Mathieu, the faculty included leading experts, such as Profs. Colin Dayan (Cardiff), Parth Narendam (Birmingham), Roberto Mallone (Paris), and Lorenzo Piemonti (Milan), as well as Dr Manuela Battaglia of INNODIA.
In the whole of Europe we're now looking at how to translate research projects on, for instance, screening for early-stage T1D into our healthcare systems, how to organise early-stage T1D clinics, for instance, how to organise family screening, general population screening for early-stage T1D, and also how to organise the administration of disease-modifying therapies, and the follow-up of these individuals. And it has been an amazing experience here in Vienna, where we have discussed now for two days these topics in a very interactive way. Hello, I am Chantel Mathieu I'm a proud member of EASD, and I have organised on the request of the TEC of EASD, this school for immunology in diabetes. This school was the first one, hopefully in a long history where we are bringing clinicians preferentially early-stage career people together to discuss what we now know about the pathophysiology of type 1 diabetes, about how to screen for early-stage T1D, how to implement disease-modifying therapies into our systems now in clinical care. We had amazing teachers in our school, if I may call them that way, experts in the field. I was joined by Professor Colin Dayan, and Professor Parth Narendran from Birmingham, Professor Roberto Mallone, and Professor Lorenzo Piemonti, together with Dr Manuela Battaglia from INNODIA. For many years, I described the job of an endocrinologist as being the undertaker of internal medicine. We take care of dead organs. We replace the function of dead organs, be it the beta cell, the thyroid, adrenal, pituitary. And now we are at a gamechanging moment, specifically in type 1 diabetes, where we have a better understanding of this disease, and now have the potential to identify individuals who have the disease at a pre-symptomatic stage, the so-called early-stage T1D, thanks to the presence of multiple autoantibodies before symptoms of hypoglycemia are present. And we have the first disease-modifying therapy now approved worldwide, namely teplizumab. So, in the whole of Europe, we're now looking at how to translate research projects on, for instance, screening for early-stage T1D into our daily practice, into our healthcare systems, how to organise early-stage T1D clinics, for instance, where we monitor individuals with early-stage T1D, how to organise family screening, general population screening for early-stage T1D, and also how to organise the administration of disease-modifying therapies, and the follow-up of these individuals. So we're living in exciting times because this is where really the face of T1D is changing. And if I may say, I think type 1 diabetes is just the first disease in endocrinology. We’re also now looking at autoimmune thyroid diseases, for instance, for disease-modifying therapies. And I’m convinced that the other diseases in endocrinology will soon follow. This was a very interactive meeting with active participation of all participants. I think I heard everybody speak. We had participants from many countries all over Europe. And interesting questions were very practical on how to administer disease-modifying therapies, what it means, side effects, how to set up screening. We had a debate on pros and cons screening of the general population. So extremely interesting learning experience, I think not only for the participants but also for those speaking. I decided to participate in the first school of immunology because it's a great opportunity also for young scientists like me to learn from such leading experts and also to meet with some also young colleagues. I got a lot of information about the disease-modifying drugs. And I can believe that we can do it in our daily practise also. It’s not only theory. Now I got resources, information to implement in our hospital and the practice. My key takeaways is that there's a lot of things to take into consideration, especially test accuracy. But it's something that can be feasible, and it has a meaning for patients and for clinicians, and it's actually a new field for us endocrinologists that I'm looking forward to explore in the next years. I hope the participants of this school of Immunology of EASD will take away, first of all, of course, more knowledge about the immunology of type 1 diabetes. But also, how can I say it, more ease when talking to people living with type 1 diabetes, to people in early-stage, to families considering being screened, and to their peers about what type 1 diabetes is, why it is important to screen for early-stage T1D, and what these disease-modifying therapies can do now and in the future.
Video transcript
The new EASD training programme is designed to provide an in-depth exploration of the immunological basis of type 1 diabetes, including recent advances in the staging of the disease, strategies for early detection, approaches to disease-modifying therapies, and advances in beta-cell replacement.
As Prof. Mathieu explains, its aim is “to translate research projects on screening for early-stage type 1 diabetes into our daily practice and into our healthcare systems, and also how to organise the administration of disease-modifying therapies and the follow-up of these individuals.”
In the sessions, particular emphasis was placed on the practical aspects of early detection and intervention, such as implementation of screening programmes and disease-modifying therapies across different healthcare settings, reflecting the fact that future specialists will need not only to manage insulin therapy and technology, but also to undertake and interpret screening, communicate risk, and monitor people with presymptomatic disease.
Prof. Mathieu distilled the school’s programme into three core messages for clinicians. First, future disease-modifying strategies may need to combine immune intervention with therapies aimed at preserving beta cells. Second, islet autoantibody testing in the presymptomatic stage of type 1 diabetes marks a “gamechanging moment”, as research is beginning to alter the timing and purpose of clinical intervention. Finally, Mathieu argued that the prevention of autoimmune diabetes can now be discussed as a realistic ambition. Combined with advances such as beta-cell replacement, this also opens the door to thinking more seriously about a cure, even if that remains a longer-term goal.
In this sense, type 1 diabetes may become the first endocrine disease in which immunology-driven intervention changes the natural history of care.
Visit easd.org to keep up to date with upcoming EASD in-person courses.