Dr. Papas has devoted his research career to the application of engineering principles and the development of enabling technologies in the fields of cell therapy and tissue engineering with a focus on the treatment of diabetes. He has studied and utilized the properties of insulin-secreting tissue (especially as they relate to oxygen demand and supply) and their relationship to viability and function in the context cell therapies for diabetes with the objective of improving cost-effectiveness, availability, practicality, and clinical outcomes of this approach.

Prior to joining the University of Arizona in 2011, Dr. Papas served on the faculty at the University of Minnesota (2003-2011), where he held leadership positions as Associate Director of the Islet Transplant Program, Director of Islet Processing Research and Development and Director of the Islet Quality Assurance Core in the Schulze Diabetes Institute. Prior to that he held joint research positions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Department of Chemical Engineering, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) Center for Islet Transplantation at Harvard Medical School and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Yale University (1999-2003).