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2.12.2012 Guest of the Week: Dr. Reza Mirbolooki UC Irvine Host: Dr. Mohamad Navab

Dr. Mirbolooki will discuss type 1 diabetes and its current treatments focusing more on islet transplantation including its pros and cons. He will cover topics of the patients’ eligibility, the islet isolation and transplantation procedures, and the recent advances in the field.
Dr. Mirbolooki is a Scientist at the Preclinical Imaging Center, School of Medicine and a lecturer at the Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Henry Samueli School of Engineering, University of California, Irvine. He is a member of The Cell Transplantation Society and the Society of Nuclear Medicine. His MD degree with honours is from Babol University of Medical Sciences, Iran, where he was awarded the Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for his performance as the Director of Students’ Scientific Research Centre (2000).
After completing his Research Fellowship in the field of Diabetes at Endocrine Research Centre, Melli University (2004), he obtained his PhD in Experimental Surgery, from University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (2008). His research was conducted in a world-class laboratory focusing on a new treatment for diabetes called islet transplantation which is transplanting the insulin-producing cells of a brain-dead donor’s pancreas to a diabetic recipient’s liver. The laboratory is known for introducing a new cell isolation method and a novel immunosuppressive therapy called “Edmonton Protocol”. He was also trained in Cell Programming to Beta Cells, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Centre for Beta Cell Therapy in Diabetes in Strasbourg, France (2006). Dr. Mirbolooki completed his postdoctoral fellowship in PET imaging of the transplanted islets at University of California, Irvine in 2010. He has authored or co-authored 35 peer reviewed publications, including publications in Journal of Nuclear Medicine, EJNMMI Res, Transplant Immunology, Transplantation, Cell Transplantation and International Journal of Obesity. He has received several professional awards, including NIH-JDRF Award, REACH Academy Award, and Mary Louise Imrie Award. He has been scientific consultant for Canadian Council for Donation and Transplantation and from several companies in the field of islet transplantation. Dr. Mirbolooki has taught several courses or workshops in diabetes care, transplantation immunology, and essentials of cell biology at Melli University, University of Alberta, and University of California, Irvine. His invited talks include those at The British Academy of Medical Sciences and The Royal Society, Chinese Medical Association, and the Slovakian Diabetes Society. He has contributed in several books including the textbook of Comprehensive Clinical Nephrology, 3rd and 4th editions, and Cellular Transplantation from Laboratory to Clinic.