BioInsights talks with Prof. James Shapiro, University of Alberta, Canada.

Professor James Shapiro was born in Leeds, England, son of a family doctor. He studied Medicine in Newcastle and trained in Surgery in Bristol. He developed a longstanding interest in islet transplantation as a medical student. He has been on Faculty at the UofA since 1998. James led the team that developed and tested the “Edmonton Protocol” and was the lead author on their seminal NEJM paper in 2000. This protocol revolutionized the treatment for Type 1 Diabetes, as for the first time a series of patients were able to completely stop their life-sustaining insulin injections. He is currently leading a National Canadian project in ex vivo organ transplant repair (CNTRP), and has active clinical trials in Edmonton evaluating caspase inhibitors and new subcutaneous devices for islet transplantation. He is leading diabetes clinical trials in stem cell transplantation and regenerative medicine. James is the recipient of a Gold Medal in Surgery, a Governor-General’s Gold Medal, a prestigious Hunterian Professor of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He currently holds a prestigious Canada Research Chair in Transplantation Surgery and Regenerative Medicine.