Juan Dominguez-Bendala, Ph.D.

"When children with diabetes and their parents come here to tour the lab and I talk about the work we're doing, I'm reminded that what we do every day has a higher meaning."

Juan Dominguez-Bendala, Ph.D.

Juan Domínguez-Bendala, Ph.D., is Director of Stem Cell Development for Translational Research and Research Associate Professor of Surgery at the Diabetes Research Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Before joining the DRI faculty, he worked at the Roslin Institute (Scotland, UK), known for the cloning of Dolly the sheep. Dr. Dominguez-Bendala obtained his PhD. there and acquired considerable experience in embryonic stem cells and state-of-the-art genetic engineering techniques.

Working with other DRI faculty and international collaborators, Dr. Domínguez-Bendala is currently involved in several projects that focus on the use of stem cells to obtain pancreatic islets that could potentially be transplanted into patients with type 1 diabetes. He is also currently working on new methods for expansion/regeneration of pancreatic beta cells. Dr. Domínguez-Bendala was recently featured among a dozen of the nation’s top stem cell scientists in the first “CELLebrity” Doctors calendar to benefit research in regenerative therapies.