Dr. Paul Kubes

Professor, Faculty of Medicine
University of Calgary                                                                                        

 Inflammatory diseases such as asthma, arthritis, multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel disease have a devastating effect on their victims. They also take a toll in terms of health care costs and productivity levels. While these diseases affect different organs, they have in common a process by which white blood cells, or leukocytes, travel from the bloodstream into surrounding tissues. By focusing on this process, known as leukocyte recruitment, Dr. Paul Kubes is having a major impact worldwide on the understanding and treatment of these debilitating diseases.

Dr. Kubes uses a technique called intravital microscopy, which enables scientists to look at how white blood cells behave in the blood vessels of living animals. He has extended the technique and applied it to models of human disease allowing researchers to see the process at work in the relevant organs during the development of diseases such as stroke, lung infections, MS and hepatitis. Through this work, he has made a number of important discoveries and has become one of the world’s leading experts on inflammation and imaging of the immune system.

Dr. Kubes is perhaps best known for the discovery that nitric oxide, which is produced by blood vessels under normal conditions, prevents white blood cells from adhering to blood vessels and causing inflammation. Further research showed that the anti-adhesive and anti-inflammatory properties of nitric oxide are important not only in cardiovascular disease, but also in inflammatory diseases and potentially in the spread of cancer cells. A related finding has translated into the use of inhaled nitric oxide to treat lung disorders in children and adults.