Dr Paul De Sousa

British by birth, but Canadian by upbringing, Dr Paul De Sousa was first lured to the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh in 1998 by the pioneering cloning of Dolly the sheep.

Although still based at the Roslin Institute, Dr De Sousa took on the role of project manager and senior research fellow at the University of Edinburgh in 2005, under the auspices of the new Centre for Regenerative Medicine. There he leads a team studying methods of creating embryos suitable for either reproductive purposes or for harvesting developmentally-mature embryonic stem cells.

"At the time of my arrival Scotland was very much the centre of the universe as far as cloning was concerned, and it’s still the place to be doing that kind of work within a responsible regulatory framework."

Born in Reading, Dr De Sousa graduated from the University of Toronto in Zoology and Human Biology in 1986. He then completed a Master of Science in Zoology at the University of Toronto in 1989, and a PhD in Zoology at the University of Western Ontario in 1993.

From 1993 he received several research awards, including a postdoctoral research fellowship between 1996 and 1999 from Organon Canada Ltd, a subsidiary of global biotechnology giant Akzo Nobel.

He has held three postdoctoral research fellow positions: between 1993 and 1994 at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute in Toronto; from 1994 to 1995 in the Department of Biology at the University of Pennsylvania in the USA; and in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Western Ontario between 1995 and 1998.

On coming to Scotland, he spent a year as embryology product leader at the Roslin Institute, before becoming group leader and consultant to biotech firm Geron Corporation, Menlo Park California.

In his current role he retains strong links to industry, while also funded by the Medical Research Council.

What made you decide to move to Scotland?

At the time of my arrival Scotland was very much the centre of the universe as far as cloning was concerned, and it’s still the place to be doing that kind of work within a responsible regulatory framework. That’s important because we are dealing with a very sensitive subject.

Tell us more about what you’re currently doing and how it can be applied

My primary aim is to be able to grow embryonic stem cells which are safe, developmentally-mature and ethically obtained. To that end, we have covered extensive ground in growing human embryo stem cells in defined environments, so that they can be supported without using blood or nutrients from animals, which carries an inherent risk of diseases like BSE being transferring to the cells we isolate.

In addition to establishing embryonic stem cells from fertilised embryos that are surplus to conceptive needs of the couples that donate them we are seeking to make stem cell lines from eggs that we artificially stimulate as we would in cloning. This creates a parthenogenetic embryo where early development is driven by the genetic information inside the egg. To achieve this we have been using immature eggs donated by women undergoing elective sterilisation and we have shown that when we mature these eggs in vitro, there is one growth factor that we can add to the culture environment that can substitute for supplementation with animal serum and still yield developmentally competent eggs. This knowledge also has application in assisted conception as a means of generating eggs without having to subject women to hormonal stimulation. c

How have you found the funding and support environment?

I’ve been fortunate to secure funding since 2000, with research grants from Geron Corporation and the Medical Research Council and additional funding from Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and Lothian. Once the Centre for Regenerative Medicine is complete and fully operational it will give us a terrific facility to further our research.

What do you like most about living and working in Scotland?

I like the fact that there’s a willingness in Scotland to work together across all the traditional boundaries of basic, medical and technological research.

I'm also fond of single malt!

More information:

Edinburgh Centre for Regenerative Medicine