“I am thrilled to be a part of this endeavor and welcome the challenge.”
Igor Lacik, PhD, Polymer Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
Meritxell Rovira Clusellas has joined the Chicago Diabetes Project from her lab at Johns Hopkins University. Working with Dr. Steven Leach, she is searching for a way to grow an unlimited number of insulin-producing islet cells from adult pancreatic tissue. Working with adult pancreatic stem cells, she is trying to differentiate these cells into different cell lines to find a source of islets that could be used to transplant into diabetic patients. Meritxell is excited to be with the Chicago Diabetes Project because she believes, it is “a great opportunity to work on an interdisciplinary research project where the different teams all have the same objective: to cure diabetes.” Meritxell was born in Spain and has been interested in pancreatic development and stem cells since . . .
Website: http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/cellbio/dept/LeachProfile.html
Dr. Bruno Lefebvre received his Ph.D. from the University of Lille-France on the study of the ligand binding site of the human retinoic acid receptor, alpha, and on the characterization of receptor-selective compounds. Thereafter, he completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Laboratory of Molecular Growth Regulation at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, a branch of the National Institute of Health. With the NIH, he studied the effect of chromatin organization on retinoid responsive genes. Afterward, he returned to France. There, he has been working with the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) in Lille since January 2002. Since 2007, he has focused on the Chicago Diabetes Project. Currently, his research interests include the PPARα (Peroxisome proliferators-activated receptor alpha) pathway in adipose tissues and selective modulators, particularly SPPARMs (Selective Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Modulators ). He also studies retinoid resistance in cancer cells. Using pharmacological drugs, he elucidates the specific signaling pathways that PPARs use to regulate the expression of genes. When these genes are transcribed, they code for proteins that are involved with a variety of metabolic processes.
Website: http://www.inserm.fr/en/
Choi received a Ph.D. in chemistry from Brown and is currently a Research Professor with the Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory at the University of Illinois- Urbana Chamaign. Choi’s research interests include advanced drug delivery and cell encapsulation using precision microspheres fabricated by the precision particle fabrication (PPF) technology. Her research interests also include synthesis and development of tailored organometallic, inorganic and polymeric precursors to deposit nanoscale materials, such as thin films, nanoparticles and nanowires of metals and ceramics, and micro and nano-spheres of biomaterials. These novel materials are fabricated from precursors via sol-gel processing, charged liquid cluster beam (CLCB) deposition, and chemical vapor deposition (CVD), to utilize their electronic, optical, optoelectronic and magnetic properties for applications such as display and solar cell devices, sensors, and MR imaging.
Website: http://tfcp.ece.illinois.edu/
For over three decades Prof. Kim’s group at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has been a world leader in the research and development of novel technologies for making precise microspheres and microcapsules for a variety of applications including nuclear fusion, advanced drug delivery, and tissue engineering. He and Prof. Hyungsoo Choi joined The Chicago Project in 2005 and have since developed a machine that can produce uniform microcapsules to encapsulate islets for transplantation. The machine, Illinois Microcapsule Machine for Islet Centering (IMMIC), is expected to produce over 1000 capsules per second with no islets protruding from the capsules. Kim is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Director of Thin Film and Charged Particle Research Laboratory, and also holds affiliated professorships in the Departments of Bioengineering, Material Science and Engineering, Nuclear, Plasma and Radiological Engineering, Institute for Genomic Biology, Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory, and the Beckman Institute of Advanced Science and Technology.
Kim’s research interests include generating uniform micro- and nano-spheres and mirocapsules and nanofibers of precisely controlled size, shell thickness, charge and porosity, both for biomedical and other high-tech applications. These applications consist of the controlled release of active ingredients and cell encapsulation; Multi-modality contrast agents based on nanoparticles for targeted imaging and treatment of tumors; FFESS (Flow-limited Field-injection ElectroStatic Spraying) for fabrication of highly ordered nanostructures such as thin films, nanoparticles, nanofibers, and in-situ micropatterning; Growth of group-III nitride semiconductors and fabrication of high-speed power electronic devices using plasma-assisted MBE; Development of novel techniques for thin film deposition and fabrication of nanotubes, nanofibers and nanowires using plasmas, charged particles, electrostatic spraying, CVD and other techniques; Novel flat panel displays including FED and OLED.
Website: http://tfcp.ece.illinois.edu/
The “Chicago Diabetes Project” is truly a unique constellation of activities tying together some required elements for curing diabetes. We need to have investigators seeking to create new beta-cells – we also need to have other scientists investigate how to protect such cells, when they are transferred back into diabetic patients – which is not something done by a scientist, but by a skilled M.D, and also one that understands cell grafting technology. All that, and more, is covered by Chicago Diabetes Project activities. I think, we, as scientists, all realize that the ultimate success can only be achieved through teamwork. It is a rewarding environment to work in, and one that creates enthusiasm.”
Personally, the Chicago Diabetes Project, has helped my laboratory to engage in novel research that seeks to understand the guiding principles for pancreatic beta cells on a quite large scale. Although this research is done using mice as the model system, the knowledge is directly applicable to human cells. It is our hope that such knowledge may unlock the combinatorial code for generating proper, glucose-sensing, insulin-producing cells so that more patients may receive new beta-cells, essentially providing a cure for the disease.
Yong Wang, M.D. joined the UIC team in 2004. Dr. Wang brings extensive experience in islet physiology and human islet isolation to the Chicago Diabetes Project. Currently, his research is focused in two major areas: (1) human islet functional assessment using a novel real-time microfluidic device combined with fluorescence imaging (calcium influx and mitochondrial potential) and dynamic islet perifusion and (2) developing new methods for preservation of the donated pancreas and the prevention of ischemia-reperfusion injury.
Dr. José Oberholzer, MD, is an Associate Professor of Surgery, Endocrinology and Diabetes, and Bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), the Director of the Islet and Pancreas Transplant Program and the Chief of the Division of Transplantation. He has extensive experience in clinical and experimental islet transplantation, abdominal organ transplantation, as well as advanced hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery. He trained at the University of Geneva (Switzerland), as well as at the University of Alberta in Edmonton (Canada), where he completed a fellowship in hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery and transplantation. Dr. Oberholzer was the Head of the Islet Transplant Program at the University of Geneva and the GRAGIL islet consortium from 1998 to 2002, completing a significant number of islet transplants. He has been heading UIC’s Islet Transplant Program since 2003 and is the Chief of the Transplant Division at UIC since Summer 2007. UIC has a comprehensive multi-organ transplant program with emphasis on transplantation for diabetes, as well as on robotic surgery in living donors for kidney, liver, pancreas and small bowel.
Dr. Oberholzer is also an expert in advance minimally invasive and robotic surgery of abdominal organs. To date the UIC islet transplant program has performed over 250 human islet isolations for both transplant and research. UIC is a federally funded islet cell resource center and provides islet preparation for researchers around the world. Dr. Oberholzer at UIC has successfully completed a phase I/II trial with 10 patients investigating the effect of anti-inflammatory treatment in combination with exenatide on islet transplantation outcomes.
“I am a Norwegian research scientist working with alginate capsules as immune barriers. My work with alginate and capsules started in 1997, and I was awarded with a PhD on the topic in 2002. Over the period 2002-2005, I continued the work of alginate capsules, and spent one year at The University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, gaining skills in transplantation and islets isolation. This research has led to the development of the capsule currently used in the Chicago Diabetes Project (CDP).
Our research has proven that the alginate capsule is stable, biocompatible, and protects the pancreatic islets from the immune response of the host in mice. Through the CDP, this has also been tried with baboons, and with promising results. However, the understanding of the mechanisms involved in immune isolation is still a challenge and require further research.
I started working with the CDP in 2006 and have had several stays at Dr. Oberholzers lab in Chicago. As a scientist, it is really exciting to work towards getting the research results applied, and I believe we are close to being able to successfully treat patients. The CDP combine scientist and clinicians in a stimulating environment that to me has lead to great results, as well as good friends. I do believe that the CDP has what it takes to reach the goal of finding a functional cure for diabetes.
The work on microcapsules at Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway, includes in addition to me the work of two professors, two post docs and support from two to three technicians. We work with improving capsule properties and the capsule material. We also try to understand the reaction of the immune system against foreign material and in particular, microcapsules.
My work is currently supported by Norwegian Diabetes Association through Norwegian Foundation for Health and Rehabilitation.”
Barbara Barbaro is a Research Specialist involved in the Human Islet Isolation and Transplantation program as well as in different research projects aimed to improve isolation procedure and post isolation culture. Her most recent projects are based on the optimization of pre-transplantation human culture conditions and the study of cytokine involvement in the onset of type II diabetes. She has a total of eight publications and she has attended numerous conferences in the field of islet transplantation. In addition, she is devoted to organizing, leading and managing the research laboratory. During her years at University of Illinois at Chicago, she has been extensively occupied in research design, account management, grants and paper writing and poster design, tutoring and training students as well as islet isolation personnel.
Website: http://www.uic.edu/com/surgery/transplant/research.htm
Dr. Qi trained as a physician and surgeon in China then completed a Ph.D. in encapsulated islet transplantation at the Kyoto University, Japan. He joined the University of Illinois at Chicago islet team in May 2005 as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Dr. Qi is a master of human islet isolation and assessment of quality. He is also experienced in rodent islet transplantation and is a fully trained surgeon with capabilities of performing all the transplant surgeries. He is currently conducting a pre-clinical study of transplantation of microencapsulated human islets in non-human primate models.
Since joining the Chicago Diabetes Project in 2005. Dr. Qi has been a key member of working on Islet Encapsulation and has led the current work on encapsulated islet transplant being performed at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
The goal of the Encapsulation Program is to find a way to encapsulate islets in a gel-like bead, which masks the islet from the body’s immune system but still allows for insulin and glucose to pass through, allowing the normal regulation of patient blood glucose to return. In a normal islet transplant, a patient must be placed on medications, which suppress their immune system but also may have side effects, or the body will reject the transplanted islets. If successful, working encapsulated islets will enable the next generation of transplantation and allow patients to be transplanted without the need for drugs to suppress a person’s immune system. This would be a major step toward a cell-based, functional cure for Type 1 diabetes.
Dr. Qi’s work has been critical in the development of a working capsule. He has led the efforts in transplanting encapsulated islets in a large animal model with the goal of demonstrating this technique can be done safely and effectively. This work is ongoing and has shown great promise. The hope is that this technique can be used with human islets in human patients as soon as possible.
I am an ideas person. I read a lot in different fields and dream a lot. The presence of endocrine islets in an abdominal exocrine salivary gland has puzzled numerous people for years. Today we know that the exocrine and endocrine pancreas have a common origin. I am at the start of work striving to derive islets from the exocrine fraction in vitro (US patent in 2005). I am responsible for the human islet isolation here in Lille, France (50-60 pancreata/yr) and we have an active clinical islet transplant program and would love to test new approaches clinically.
I have known José for years. He is a locomotive, always pushing ahead. The Chicago Diabetes Project gives individual scientists the opportunity to work toward a common goal that one is unlikely ever to reach alone within a reasonable amount of time.
The pancreatic precursor project represents a vast degree of complementarity with fundamental developmental biologists who have little in common with applied islet transplant scientists or surgeons. Each person leaves his “own world” and meets the others at some overlapping area.
I am excited to have a role in this project and positively awed by the immensity and variety of the projects tackled (encapsulation, precursors, proliferation). Coupled with the open dynamic nature of bringing in new collaborators as necessary and the positive, diplomatic, and energetic characteristics of the leader, driving the different teams to achieve the goal without obstacles, this is a fascinating time in diabetes research.
“As part of the encapsulation group since my Unit in Sydney (Diabetes Transplant Unit) commenced a phase 1 clinical trial with encapsulated human islets in February 2006. We also are undertaking mechanistic studies to understand better what effect encapsulation does to human islets when encapsulated. As an adjunct to the Pancreatic Progenitor (PP) Group, my Unit in Sydney has created pancreatic progenitors from human embryonic stem cells. In both cases, information from my unit is shared confidentially with others in the Group.
I am part of this because there are few groups in the world transplanting encapsulated islets clinically, and being part of the Chicago group allows me access to others who have carried out and are planning to carry out this procedure. Equally, my group’s experience in this field can be shared with others.
The Chicago Project brings together multiple players with different experiences, all of whom are prepared to share their data and interact. It is the nack of having sharing players which makes the Chicago Project so special…and that is a tribute to Dr. Oberholzer’s skills of selection.”
Dr. Tuch received his B. Sc., M.B., and his B.S. from the University of Queensland. He received his F.R.A.C.P at the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and his Ph.D. at the University of Sydney. He has been the Director of the Diabetes Transplant Unit at Prince of Wales Hospital (POWH) and University of New South Wales (UNSW) since 1991. He is also a Senior Staff Specialist in Endocrinology at POWH and a Professor of Medicine at UNSW. He is currently a member of numerous professional organizations, such as the International Transplantation Society and American Diabetes Association as well as a foundation member of the International Pancreas and Islet Transplant Association and the Tissue Engineering Society.
“I am a research scientist with a background from the microcapsule group at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. I completed my M.S. on alginate microcapsules in the spring of 2008 and was introduced to the CDP through my supervisor Prof. Skjåk-Bræk and mentors Dr. Strand and Dr. Mørch.
“I will be joining the team at UIC later in the fall of 2008 where I will contribute mainly on encapsulation techniques and capsule materials.”
“My role in the Lentivector lab is to design and construct therapeutic vectors. Our goal is to eventually provide unlimited supplies of surrogate beta cells. To achieve this goal, we need to unravel the key factors that control the proliferation of pancreatic cells. This means constant exchange of information between the members of the Chicago Diabetes Project.
I feel very lucky to be involved in the Chicago Diabetes project because it is a unique opportunity for a young scientist like me to work in such an interesting field of research, within a network of highly talented scientists. It is clear to me that our objectives can only be achieved if we gather skilled scientists, sharing data as well as common enthusiasm. To this regard Jose Oberholzer has performed a fantastic work, and I believe that the Chicago Diabetes Project will provide an invaluable contribution to the scientific community and to the patient.”
Marc Giry-Laterriere, PhD received a Master of Science from the Université Technologique de Compiegne, France, in 2002, during which he studied the potential of plants to produce therapeutic proteins. He received a PhD from the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences in Vienna, Austria in 2006, during which he studied the potential of lactic acid bacteria to cure allergies. He joined the Lentivector lab in Geneva in April 2007 as a research fellow.
The role of my laboratory in the CDP is to provide lentivectors that are used to perform genetic engineering of cells.
Lentivectors are microscopic particles derived from lentiviruses. Our knowledge of their life cycle has helped us taming them in such a way that they can no longer achieve a complete multiplication cycle but can still inject the genes they carry into the genome of their target cells. Lentivectors are now among the safest, most powerful and most versatile molecular tools for the genetic engineering of therapeutic cells. In most cases, such as diabetes, the current sources of primary cells will never suffice to treat all the patients. This implies that a robust expansion phase is required to obtain sufficient numbers of therapeutic cells. One application of genetic engineering is “reversible immortalization”, which consists in re-programming cells in such a way that they can proliferate in a controlled manner. We are currently testing reversible immortalization on human beta-cells, as well as human pancreatic progenitors. We are also testing genes that can improve beta-cell functions, as well as genes that can “instruct” pancreatic progenitors to become beta-cells. All this approaches are aimed at the generation of unlimited supplies of surrogate beta-cells.
We became part of the CDP because we believe that our expertise in genetic engineering, combined with the expertise of the other scientists of the CDP can and will make a significant contribution to the overall mission.
The CDP is very special in terms of biological sciences applied toward a global health issue. The gathering of experts coming from all horizons, sharing their knowledge and data with total confidence and trust all aiming at the same target, the cure of diabetes, is quite a unique situation in modern biological science.
Patrick Salmon is a pharmaceutical doctor from Rene Descartes University in Paris. He received his PhD at the Pierre & Marie Curie University in Paris in 1991, studying immunology, virology and molecular biology. From 1993 to 1997, he studied developmental biology, gene expression and signal transduction at the University of California at Berkeley. Since 1997, he works at the Geneva School of Medicine where he is developing molecular tools based on lentivector technology. Since 2005, he is in charge of the Lentivector Lab in the Department of Neurosciences. The Lentivector Lab team is currently designing and producing lentivectors for basic research in neurosciences focusing on neural plasticity, as well as gene and cell therapy of neural disorders focusing on brain damage.
Website: http://medweb2.unige.ch/salmon/
“I joined the Chicago project due to the high scientific quality of the participating groups.”
Dr. Gudmund Skjåk-Bræk is a Professor in biochemistry at the Department of Biotechnology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). He served as the Director of the Norwegian Biopolymer Laboratory and as the Chairman of the Foundation for Biopolymers. He is the current leader of the NMR laboratory and is a member of the faculty of Science and Technology. He is also the Director of the Board of AlgiPharma A/S. He is also a member of the Royal Norwegian Academy for Sciences and Humanities and the Norwegian Academy of Technical Science. His research focuses on the biosynthesis of polysaccharides, the function and relationships in biopolymers, NMR-spectroscopy and polymer statistics, tissue engineering, gel technology and immobilization of cells, immunology, biocompatible materials, microcapsules and cell therapy for the treatment of diabetes and cancer.
My role in the Chicago Diabetes Project has been to coordinate the encapsulation sub-group and to be the interface between the team of medical doctors and scientists. This team, which includes collaborators from the USA, Norway, Slovakia, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Israel, and France, is striving to find a way to protect the human insulin-producing cells. The protected insulin producing cells will then be transplanted into diabetics and will regulate blood sugar levels, without using immune-suppressive drugs. This sounds so simple and yet, it is huge. A functional cure for diabetes that does not require immunosuppression will someday be a reality for children and young people in their child bearing years. All it will take is time with scientists and physicians such as those on the Chicago Diabetes Project putting their hearts and minds to the task, and of course, the help of many generous supporters.
David Hunkeler is the General Director of AQUA+TECH, a developer, producer and retailer of water soluble materials with applications in the environment, personal care and medicine. He has a doctorate in polymers and has been a professor in the United States and Europe for a decade. He has authored over two-hundred scientific papers, written seven books, received awards for technology and entrepreneurship and, in his spare time, is a poet.
Polymer chemistry in the microcapsule design, process of fabrication and characterization. Overall strategy in the optimization of microcapsules fulfilling the ultimate goal.
Ability to apply methodical, diverse and long-term expertise in the design of microcapsules for immune protection of pancreatic islets.
This collaboration represents the conjunction of the world experts in all the areas needed for bringing the transplantation of encapsulated islets to the cure. Sincerity, scientific integrity, criticism and friendship are the characteristics building the strong and professional team. This as well as financial means represent the exceptional conditions, which could not be so successfully, combined in the parallel current and past teams. This creates a high chance for Chicago Project to succeed in the mission.
Your contribution will help doctors and scientists all over the world to bring an end to diabetes of all types. Together we can brighten the lives of people across the globe.
