Steven Paraskevas

Biography

Associate Professor, Department of Surgery, McGill University Medical Scientist, Transplant Surgeon, Director of Pancreas and Islet Transplantation, Director of Transplant Research McGill University Health Centre (MUHC)  

Research Interest

Currently, the replacement of a beta-cell function in type I diabetes has hailed to provide satisfactory long-term results. The resons for eventual failure of islet cell transplants include the cellular response to injury and in long term beta-cell population dynamics. Present work focuses on the first of these: on stress signalling within the islet and their response to cytokine stimuli encountered during isolation/purification and engraftment.This is part of a multi-organ system approach to resolving the mechanisms of ischemia-induced injury during transplantation. The development of strategies to minimize organ damage at the molecular level in pancreas/islets, kidney and liver is the larger context within which specific research projects are developed.