KEYNOTE LECTURE

April 1st
9:30-10:20
Buenos Aires Conference Room

Auditorium Pallady

Total Pancreatectomy and Islet Auto Transplantation

Having studied for most of his academic life the endocrine pancreas, Prof. Paul Johnson is on a steady path to implementing islet transplants in order to treat juvenile-onset diabetes, as well as chronic pancreatitis. A total pancreatectomy followed by an auto-islet transplant are becoming vital procedures when severe pain affects quality of life, especially in children.

Paul Johnson’s findings of glucose metabolism sex dimorphism are a step forward in the development of patient-centered treatments for disease. He discovered that there is a statistically significant higher expression of the COBLL1 gene in gluteal adipose tissue in women, while in the liver, COBLL1 had higher expression in men.

Other areas of his research led to the conclusion that recombinant nidogen-1 significantly protects human islets from hypoxia-induced damage.

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ABOUT OUR SPEAKER

Paul R.V. Johnson

A professor of Paediatric Surgery at the University of Oxford and Director of the Oxford Islet Transplant Programme, Prof. Paul Johnson has been attempting to advance our understanding of normal pancreatic development and islet neogenesis for almost three decades. His two main research teams are concerned with the endocrine pancreas, in particular with islet transplantation for juvenile-onset diabetes, as well as with aiming to apply islet transplantation in the future to his patients.

Paul Johnson also served as the President of the International Pancreas and Islet Association, from 2011 to 2013. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of The American Academy of Paediatrics in February 2010 and he currently sits on a number of Research and Editorial Boards. Furthermore, he chairs the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences Clinical Academic Sub Group.

A paediatric surgeon at John Radcliffe Hospital and the recipient of a Hunterian Professorship from the Royal College of Surgeons of England, Paul Johnson’s work is crucial in shaping the future of human islet isolation.