STEM CELLS Translational Medicine Release: Dr. Philippe Lysy’s Search in New Sources for Insulin-Producing Cells Earns Him the 2017 SCTM Young Investigator Award

SCTM named Philippe Lysy, M.D., Ph.D., the STEM CELLS Translational Medicine’s Young Investigator of 2017 for his exploration of new sources of cells capable of conversion into insulin-secretors.

Dr. Philippe Lysy’s Search in New Sources for Insulin-Producing Cells Earns Him the 2017 SCTM Young Investigator Award

Durham, NC – STEM CELLS Translational Medicine (SCTM) named Philippe Lysy, M.D., Ph.D., the STEM CELLS Translational Medicine’s Young Investigator of 2017 for his exploration of new sources of cells capable of conversion into insulin-secretors. The award fosters advancements in the field of stem cells and regenerative medicine by honoring a young researcher who is principle author of an article published in SCTM that is deemed to have the most impact and to push the boundaries of novel and insightful research.

Dr. Lysy’s data describe a new, reliable, and fast procedure in adult human pancreatic cells to generate clinically relevant amounts of new β cells with potential to reverse diabetes. The paper was published in the November 2016 issue of SCTM.

“The potential to reverse diabetes with this β-cell replacement therapy could change the lives of 415 million people worldwide living with the disease,” said Anthony Atala, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of SCTM and director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine. “This research data suggests a reliable and fast procedure to generate clinically relevant amounts of new β-cells for translational studies and could potentially lead to other disease applications as well.”

Dr. Lysy is a professor at Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) in Brussels, Belgium, where he heads up the pediatric endocrinology and diabetes service at Cliniques Universitaires Saint Luc and supervises a research team in the laboratory of pediatrics (IREC). He received both his M.D. (in 2003) and his Ph.D. (2008) from UCL. While finishing his formation in pediatrics, Dr. Lysy had the opportunity to spend two years as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Susan Bonner-Weir at Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School (Boston), where he studied the role of human pancreatic ductal cells as progenitors in the setting of beta-cell replacement strategies.

The STEM CELLS Translational Medicine Young Investigator Award, which includes a $10,000 cash incentive, is co-sponsored by CIRM and Quintiles in cooperation with the Regenerative Medicine Foundation. Its winner is selected each year by the journal’s editorial board, made up of leading experts in the field of regenerative medicine worldwide.

Read the paper that helped Dr. Lysy earn the STEM CELLS Translational Medicine Young Investigator Award, titled “V-Maf Musculoaponeurotic Fibrosarcoma Oncogene Homolog A Synthetic Modified mRNA Drives Reprogramming of Human Pancreatic Duct-Derived Cells Into Insulin-Secreting Cells.”

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