Grant: Project Grant

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease where the immune system attacks the insulin producing beta cells of the pancreas. People suffering from this disease control their blood glucose levels using insulin injections or infusion. Even with progress in this area, insulin replacement leads to risks of hypoglycemia (glucose too low) and cardiovascular complications. Instead of replacing insulin, an alternative strategy is to replace the missing beta cells using islet transplantation. Over 70% of the patients receiving islet grafts will live without needing insulin injections for at least two years. To avoid rejection of the new islets, immune suppression medication is required. This has unwanted side effects such as increased risks of infection and cancer. Access to islet transplants is also limited by donated organ supply. The goal of this research project is to design a transplantation device to avoid islet rejection and enable the use of stem cells instead of islets from organ donors. To avoid oxygen starvation of the graft, our device will be irrigated by blood vessels created by 3D printing. We have tested our device in vitro with cell lines and using rat flow loops. We now propose to engineer devices that could be implanted into larger animals. If successful, this project could improve the efficacy of islet transplants, as well as access of type 1 diabetic patients to this life changing therapy. Our team is highly interdisciplinary and led by a bioengineer with expertise in islet transplantation (Corinne Hoesli) and an experienced surgeon who performs islet transplantations in Québec (Steven Paraskevas). The team also includes experts in immunology (Sylvie Lesage), and vascular device engineering (Richard Leask and André Bégin-Drolet). Several collaborators (Gregory Korbutt, Timothy Kieffer, Jean Ruel, Vilceu Bordignon, Jonathan Brassard) will contribute through expertise in pig islet transplantation, bioreactor design and stem cell culture.