Science Café

Dear Science Café fans,

In October’s Science Café, we’ll return to the topic of health. Do you know what happens in our bodies when blood sugar levels get out of control? Why and how does diabetes develop, and what role does insulin play in this process? Prof. Ivan Tkáč, MD, PhD, from the 4th Department of Internal Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine of Pavol Jozef Šafárik University and University Hospital in Košice, will be joining us to answer these and similar questions. We’ll learn what the diagnosis of “diabetes” really entails, what we know about its causes, prevention, and treatment. We’ll also explore how modern science is changing the lives of people with this disease, as well as how findings from basic research are becoming an integral part of diabetes treatment.

Prof. MUDr. Ivan Tkáč, PhD., is a leading Slovak expert in the fields of internal medicine, diabetology, and lipidology. He works at the Faculty of Medicine of Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice and at the 4th Department of Internal Medicine of the Faculty of Medicine at UPJŠ and UN LP. He completed his postdoctoral studies at the University of Toronto from 1995 to 1998. From 2000 to 2021, he served as head of the 4th Department of Internal Medicine. During his tenure, he made significant contributions to the department’s development, particularly in the fields of diabetology, lipidology, and angiology. He devoted particular attention to the issues of diabetic foot, atherosclerosis, and the relationship between diabetes mellitus and vascular complications. For the past 15 years, he has focused on the pharmacogenetics of antidiabetic therapy. As part of this work, he was a member of the global research consortium MET-GEN, which contributed to the discovery of a polymorphism associated with the response to metformin treatment, a finding published in *Nature Genetics*. He has served as the principal investigator on several VEGA research projects and as a co-investigator on APVV projects. For his research work, he has been honored with awards from the SLS Presidium—the Dérer Award and the Korec Award. In addition, he has received the Slovak Diabetes Society Award for Best Publication of the Year on multiple occasions. An important part of his professional work is the teaching and professional training of young physicians and researchers. More information is available on the UPJŠ website.

Come learn something new about what we know about diabetes today. I’m confident we’ll spend another enjoyable and informative evening together.
Come—you won’t regret it.
J. Gálik