Pivotal to IIDP’s mission is providing reliable, high quality resources to the research community from industry-leading Islet Isolation Centers (IICs). Each of the current 10 geographically diverse IICs was qualified based on: isolation team and center director credentials, working relationships with local as well as specific distant Organ Procurement Organizations with provision of consistent access to quality pancreata from donors that have been qualified for organ transplant, exemplary islet isolation history, and stable recipient satisfaction.
The IIDP integrates this interactive group of IICs to maintain standardized protocols for the culture and shipping of human islets, both cultured and flash frozen. Most recently, the IIDP’s IICs offer an array of biospecimens from the same islet donor, including non-islet pancreatic tissue (ductal and acinar - fresh or frozen), serum, plasma, duodenal tissue, peripancreatic lymph nodes, spleen samples, and frozen pancreatic pieces. Each shipment is accompanied by comprehensive donor and isolation information, pre-shipment islet assessments for purity, viability, and islet quality ranking. The IIDP maintains an exclusive algorithm as part of a fair and equitable Islet Allocation System, which broadcasts the availability of human islets and non-islet biospecimens from each isolation center to subscribing investigators world-wide, tracks acceptance of tissue, and maintains feedback from the recipients. More information