Overview:

Recent progress and the improvements in the outcome of allogeneic islet transplantation put the islet transplantation as the potential standard therapy for the Type 1 diabetes patients with severe hypoglycemia. The scarcity of human islet donors could be a bottle neck for its wide application. Xenotransplantation of pig islets can be a fundamental solution for islet shortage. However, there are several hurdles to be overcome including the control of more robust IBMIR and the development of a safe and effective immunosuppressive protocol which renders sustained graft survival. In last 10 years, great advances have been made in pig-to-non-human primate islet xenotransplantation by using combinations of various immune suppressants mainly targeting T cells. Recently, our group achieved a consistent long-term control of Diabetes in Nonhuman Primates (NHP) transplanted with adult porcine islets by antiCD40L based immunosuppressive protocol. In this webinar, Dr. Park will present the data and would like to discuss on the key issues which contributed to long-term graft survival and on the perspectives of clinical application of islet xenotransplantation.

Biography:

Dr. Park is a Professor and Chairman of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, and Director of the Xenotransplantation Research Center, at the Seoul National University College of Medicine. He has worked in immune tolerance, islet transplantation and xenotransplantation research. His research on xenotransplantation is sponsored by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Korea, as the multi-year program of Xenotransplantation Research Center (XRC). The main goal of the program for the XRC is clinical application of islet and cornea xenotransplantation. He participated in the 2nd ICCIX (International Conference for Clinical Islet Xenotransplantation) for the update of The International Xenotransplantation Association (IXA) “Consensus statement on conditions for undertaking clinical trials of Porcine Islet Products in Type 1 Diabetes” and in a Key Opinion Leader Meeting in Oxford to chart the path forward in critical research issues in beta cell replacement as an expert in islet xenotransplantation field. He serves as an IXA Councilor (2011-2015) and a president-elect in the Korean Association for Immunologists (2015-2016). Through his research on immunology and islet xenotransplantation, he is committed to the clinical realization of islet xenotransplantation and is currently focusing on experiments in the non-human primate model for the clinical translation of islet xenotransplantation.