Ira Pastor, ideaXme exponential health ambassador and founder of Bioquark interviews Dr. Camillo Ricordi, Director Diabetes Research Institute University of Miami and Editor in Chief of CellR4. They talk of the science behind the claim “We will cure diabetes!”
Note: A decision was made to publish this interview despite the quality of the audio as it is still possible to understand the content. To watch the video, click here.
For links to research papers contact [email protected].
Ira Pastor comments:
The global economic cost of diabetes was estimated in 2018 to be over $750 billion.
Type 1 diabetes (T1D), is a form of diabetes in which very little or no insulin is produced by the pancreas. The cause of type 1 diabetes is still unknown.
Type 2 diabetes (T2D) involves insulin resistance, a condition in which cells fail to respond to insulin properly.
Dr. Camillo Ricordi
Dr. Camillo Ricordi, my interviewee, is Director and Chief Academic Officer of the Diabetes Research Institute of the University of Miami, director of the DRI’s Cell Transplant Center, and Professor of Surgery and Stacy Joy Goodman, Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Miami, Florida.
Dr. Ricordi’s Career
After graduating with a degree in medicine from the San Raffaele Institute in Milan, Dr. Ricordi specialized in Gastrointestinal Surgery and Digestive Endoscopy at the University of Milan, he not only conducted training in Immunogenetics and Immunobiology of cell transplants, but he was part of a team (in 1986) at the Washington University in St. Louis that pioneered a cutting edge islet cell transplant procedure. He is credited with developing the automated method for islet cell isolation called the “Ricordi Method”, and the use of the “Ricordi Chamber”, a machine that enhanced the ability to disassemble pancreatics rotissue (via a combined enzymatic and mechanical digestion techniques) while preserving endocrine cell cluster integrity. This method has become the gold standard for pancreas processing, contributing to the success and increasing number of clinical trials of islet transplantation worldwide and made it possible to obtain a greater number of islets from a human, or animal pancreas for transplant.
Dr. Ricordi had a period of military service in the Italian Air Force, where he worked as a medical officer with the rank of Lieutenant, after which he joined as Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgery of the Division of Transplantation in the School of Medicine of the University of Pittsburgh, and joined the University of Miami in the 1990s, where he has served in numerous roles including Co-Director of the Executive Office of Research Leadership, Senior Associate Dean of Research, and chair of the Dean’s Research Office.
Recent Work
In 2015, Dr. Ricordi led the U-Miami team that was involved in performing the first successful transplants of a bioengineered endocrine pancreas, implanted within a 3D bioactive resorbable scaffold, into the abdominal cavity of a recipient with a severe form of type 1 diabetes.
Dr. Ricordi has been extensively published in academic and medical journals, having authored over 1,000 scientific publications and nearly 42,000 citations.
Dr. Ricordi is currently serving on the editorial board of CellR4 as Editor-in-Chief. He has also served on the boards of Cell Transplantation (Founding Editor and Co-Editor-in-Chief), the American Journal of Transplantation (Associate Editor), and Transplantation, Transplantation Proceedings, Tissue Engineering, and Graft (Editor-in-Chief).
He has been awarded numerous patents as an inventor, as well as an endless range of awards, acknowledgments and commendations. Dr. Ricordi continues to lead and participate in global congresses and meetings on isolation and transplantation of islets for the treatment of diabetes, as well as continuing in the lab with additional research interests, including innovative strategies transplant cells and organs without the continuous requirement for anti-rejection drugs, the reversal of autoimmune disease conditions, as well as the development of anti-inflammatory and regenerative medicine strategies to prevent or treat chronic degenerative disease conditions and to prolong lifespan and health span.
Today Dr. Ricordi talks of:
His background, how he became interested in science, how he developed an interest in medicine, and eventually his transition into the area of endocrinology and transplantation. The next steps in his research program beyond islet transplantation. His research into silent inflammation in diabetes and other auto-immune diseases. The nutritional aspects of diabetes control. His thoughts on Alzheimers disease, and much more…..
Credits: Ira Pastor interview video, text, and audio.
Follow Ira Pastor on Twitter: @IraSamuelPastor
If you liked this interview, be sure to check out our interview on Pain Control for a Post Opioid World!
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