Andrew Pepper

Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry - Surgery Dept

Contact Overview Publications

Contact

Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry - Surgery Dept

Email: apepper@ualberta.ca
Address: 6-002D Li Ka Shing Centre For Research
8602 112 St NW

Edmonton AB

T6G 2E1

Overview

Area of Study / Keywords

Type 1 Diabetes Beta Cell Transplantation Islet Biology Stem Cells Biomaterials Immunosuppression

About

Dr. Pepper is an Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Alberta and a Canada Research Chair in Cell Therapies for Diabetes. In 2012, Dr. Pepper received his PhD in Pathology from the University of Western Ontario under the mentorship of transplant pioneer Dr. David White, studying methods to predict islet transplant function based on mitochondrial respiration. In parallel, Dr. Pepper worked for the Clinical Islet Transplantation Program (LHSC), building skills in human organ procurement and islet isolation. He further gained translational industry experience as a Scientist, where he spearheaded projects with pig islet transplant models using medical devices. In 2012, Dr. Pepper join the world-renowned lab of Dr. James Shapiro (developer of the Edmonton Protocol), in the Alberta Diabetes Institute as postdoctoral fellow. In 2018, Dr. Pepper was appointed as an Assistant Professor at the University of Alberta and promoted to Associate Professor in 2025.

Selected Awards and Fellowships:

2021 - Canada Research Chair Tier 2

2020 - JDRF (International) - Career Development Award

2017 - Med Star Postdoctoral Fellows Award

2017 - International Pancreas and Islet Transplantation Association - Scientific Award

2016 - Alberta Innovates Health Solutions Postgraduate Fellowship

2016 - Canadian Society of Transplantation - Basic Science Award

2015 - Transplantation Society (TTS-IPITA) - Young Investigator Scientific Award

2015 - JDRF-Canadian Clinical Trial Network/ Eli Lilly Canada Post-Doctoral Fellowship

Clinical Interests

Clinical Islet and stem cell transplantation

Research

Currently, Dr. Pepper's laboratory seeks to better understand how pancreatic islet cells survive and function post-transplant, to better treat type 1 diabetes (T1D). His group develops original cell-based therapies for T1D by bridging basic science (stem cell/islet biology) and clinical science (transplantation). His studies range from in vitro models to clinical transplants, including:

1) Developing cell transplant technologies without immunosuppression.
2) Improving function of pancreatic beta cell grafts.
3) Translating alternative beta cell sources into an unlimited supply of insulin-producing cells.

Featured Publications

Harnessing cellular therapeutics for type 1 diabetes mellitus: progress, challenges, and the road ahead

Alessandro Grattoni, Gregory Korbutt, Alice A. Tomei, Andrés J. García, Andrew R. Pepper, Cherie Stabler, Michael Brehm, Klearchos Papas, Antonio Citro, Haval Shirwan, Jeffrey R. Millman, Juan Melero-Martin, Melanie Graham, Michael Sefton, Minglin Ma, Norma Kenyon, Omid Veiseh, Tejal A. Desai, M. Cristina Nostro, Marjana Marinac, Megan Sykes, Holger A. Russ, Jon Odorico, Qizhi Tang, Camillo Ricordi, Esther Latres, Nicholas E. Mamrak, Jaime Giraldo, Mark C. Poznansky, Paul de Vos

Nature Reviews Endocrinology. 2025 January; 10.1038/s41574-024-01029-0

Status of islet transplantation and innovations to sustainable outcomes: novel sites, cell sources, and drug delivery strategies.

Wong JM, Pepper AR

Frontiers in transplantation. 2024 November; 10.3389/frtra.2024.1485444

HumanIslets.com: Improving accessibility, integration, and usability of human research islet data.

Ewald JD, Lu Y, Ellis CE, Worton J, Kolic J, Sasaki S, Zhang D, Dos Santos T, Spigelman AF, Bautista A, Dai XQ, Lyon JG, Smith NP, Wong JM, Rajesh V, Sun H, Seth A Sharp, Rogalski JC, Moravcova R, Haoning Howard Cen, Manning Fox JE, HumanIslets.com Consortium, Atlas E, Bruin JE, Mulvihill EE, Verchere CB, Foster LJ, Anna Gloyn, Johnson JD, Pepper AR, Lynn FC, Xia J, MacDonald PE

Cell metabolism. 2024 October; 10.1016/j.cmet.2024.09.001

The Future of Beta Cells Replacement in the Era of Regenerative Medicine and Organ Bioengineering.

Berishvili E, Peloso A, Tomei AA, Pepper AR

Transplant international : official journal of the European Society for Organ Transplantation. 2024 March; 10.3389/ti.2024.12885

Molecular Retention Limitations for Prevascularized Subcutaneous Sites for Islet Transplantation.

Kosala Waduthanthri, Kuppan P, Korbutt GS, Pepper AR, Larry D Unsworth

Biomacromolecules. 2024 February; 10.1021/acs.biomac.3c00977

A role and mechanism for redox sensing by SENP1 in β-cell responses to high fat feeding.

Lin H, Suzuki K, Smith N, Li X, Nalbach L, Fuentes S, Aliya F Spigelman, Dai XQ, Bautista A, Ferdaoussi M, Aggarwal S, Andrew R Pepper, Leticia Prates Roma, Ampofo E, Wen-hong Li, Patrick E. MacDonald

Nature communications. 2024 January; 10.1038/s41467-023-44589-x

Inflammation-induced subcutaneous neovascularization for the long-term survival of encapsulated islets without immunosuppression

Long-Hai Wang, Braulio A. Marfil-Garza, Alexander U. Ernst, Rena L. Pawlick, Andrew R. Pepper, Kento Okada, Boris Epel, Navin Viswakarma, Mrignayani Kotecha, James Arthur Flanders, Ashim K. Datta, Hong-Jie Gao, Ye-Zi You, Minglin Ma, A. M. James Shapiro

Nature Biomedical Engineering. 2023 December; 10.1038/s41551-023-01145-8

Pre-transplant exercise may improve glycemic outcomes after marginal islet mass transplant in type 1 diabetes

Diabetes Canada Professional Conference . 2023 November;

Blood glucose levels following repetitive aerobic exercise in fasted rats with type 1 diabetes

Diabetes Canada Professional Conference. 2023 November;

Long-Term Survival and Induction of Operational Tolerance to Murine Islet Allografts by Co-Transplanting Cyclosporine A Microparticles and CTLA4-Ig

Purushothaman Kuppan, Jordan Wong, Sandra Kelly, Jiaxin Lin, Jessica Worton, Chelsea Castro, Joy Paramor, Karen Seeberger, Nerea Cuesta-Gomez, Colin C. Anderson, Gregory S Korbutt, Andrew R Pepper

Pharmaceutics. 2023 August; 10.3390/pharmaceutics15092201

Nanothin Conformal Coating with Poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone) and Tannic Acid (PVPON/TA) Preserves Murine and Human Pancreatic Islets Function

Kateryna Polishevska, Sandra Kelly, Purushothaman Kuppan, Karen L. Seeberger, Saloni Aggarwal, Joy Paramor, Larry D. Unsworth, Hubert M. Tse, Gregory S. Korbutt, Andrew R. Pepper

Pharmaceutics. 2023 April; 10.3390/pharmaceutics15041137