Gregory Korbutt is Scientific Director of the Alberta Cell Therapy Manufacturing Facility; Professor, Department of Surgery; Member of the Alberta Diabetes Institute and Member of the Alberta Transplant Institute
A member of the original Edmonton Protocol team that developed islet cell transplant in 2000 as a treatment for Type 1 diabetes, Gregory Korbutt continues to drive towards making freedom from daily insulin injections a reality for diabetics.
Korbutt and his team are developing a safe source of islets from neonatal pigs for clinical use, creating a "scaffold" as a more hospitable environment for transplanted islet cells to survive longer. They are also experimenting with mesenchymal stem cells in conjunction with islet cell transplant in mice.
"When we transplant an organ or islet cells into a person, their immune system wants to reject that because it's foreign-it fights it like a cold virus," said Korbutt. "Patients are put on immunosuppressant medications, but we know these drugs can have side-effects for some patients. Cell therapies could prevent that."
The University of Alberta is poised to deliver stem cell treatments to patients thanks to the Alberta Cell Therapy Manufacturing facility―the only facility in Western Canada that can produce therapeutic-grade cells that can be used in patients.
"I think we're fortunate here at the U of A in that we have basic scientists like myself who are doing the research in the lab, and then because we have close colleagues that are surgeon-scientists, it helps us bring our discoveries into the patient," said Korbutt. "We've got a good transition of research into the clinic, which I think is quite unique. It's one of the reasons why we've been so successful."