Contact info

Dr Steven Paraskevas
McGill University Health Centre
687, Pine Avenue West - Room S10.30
Montreal, QC H3A 1A1

Tel: 1-514-934-1934, ext. 36522
Fax: 1-514-843-1503
E-mail: steven.paraskevas@mcgill.ca

Research keywords

Dr Steven Paraskevas is a transplant surgeon at McGill University Health Centre, specializing in pancreas and kidney transplantation. Originally from Winnipeg, Dr Paraskevas obtained a BA in Biology at Harvard University in 1988, and obtained his MD and completed General Surgery residency at McGill. During that time, he also studied mechanisms of cell death in transplanted human islets, completing a PhD in Experimental Surgery at McGill in 2003. Based on this work, he also earned the Scientific Trainee Award of the Canadian Diabetes Association in 1997. After residency, he completed a two-year fellowship in abdominal solid-organ transplantation at the University of Minnesota, where he was also involved in the clinical islet transplant program under Dr Bernhard Hering. He returned to McGill in 2002 as Assistant Professor in Surgery, and member of the multi-organ transplant program. He is currently Director of the Pancreas and Islet Transplant Program and of the Human Islet Isolation Laboratory at McGill. His current research focuses on mechanisms of cell survival during ischemia and the effect of metabolic and inflammatory stress on engraftment of human islets. He is a Councillor-at-large of the Canadian Society of Transplantation and Chair of the Cell Transplant Committee of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons.

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In earlier work, Dr Paraskevas demonstrated that human islet isolation induces apoptotic changes in human ß-cells, a phenomenon that may affect the success of islet transplantation. His work subsequently documented the autocrine effect of insulin on ß-cell survival and the effects of signaling through MAP kinase pathways. He later documented that human islet preparations release TNF-alpha locally, prior to transplantation, and that this too is a cause of cell loss. He is now collaborating with Dr Rob Sladek at the Genome Quebec and McGill University Innovation Center on a study of genome-wide changes in the ß-cell during islet transplantation.

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Current projects in the laboratory fall into four areas:

Cell death and survival during islet transplantation: The lab is currently conducting a fundamental examination of ß-cell biology during islet transplantation. We are studying genome-wide changes during isolation, engraftment, and under the effects of metabolic and pharmacologic stresses following transplantation. This will provide a clear picture of how we may intervene to improve the success of islet transplantation.

Immune monitoring of the transplant recipient: In a collaboration between members of the transplant program, and investigators from the departments of Medicine and Immunology, we are developing a panel of immune function assays which will allow us to better manage immunosuppression and prevent rejection in the transplant recipient.

Metabolomics of organ and tissue preservation: We are studying the metabolyte spectra of preserved organs and tissues in an effort to develop new standards of tissue viability and assays of function which can be used in real time.

Clinical studies in organ transplantation: Studies currently under way include the evaluation of renal function in type 1 diabetics receiving a pancreas transplant and the use of hyperinsulinemic glucose clamping to improve graft function after pancreas-kidney transplantation.