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Need Islets for Research?

Click here to download a blank application and Letter of Agreement.

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OverviewOverview of the program

The Integrated Islet Distribution Program (IIDP) funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), replaces the NCRR and JDRF funded National Islet Cell Resource Consortium which ended July 31, 2009. The IIDP continues to provide islet availability for fundamental research. As Chair, Department of  Diabetes & Cancer Discovery Science, Diabetes and Metabolism Research Institute at City of Hope, Joyce C. Niland, Ph.D. serves as Principal Investigator (PI) for this grant.

Islet Isolation CentersIslet isolation centers

The IIDP consists of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) Program Officers, an External Scientific Panel, and the Coordinating Center at City of Hope. The IIDP integrates an interactive group of islet isolation centers to coordinate the distribution of human islets. The IIDP Coordinating Center is responsible for broadcasting the availability of human islets to investigators worldwide.

Investigators Information for investigators

All investigators requesting islets must complete and submit an application to the IIDP Coordinating Center. In addition to the completed application form, applicants must also submit a concise but thorough and informative description of the specific objectives, methods associated with the use of islets, rationale for the number of islets requested and statistical methodologies to be employed. Click here for information on how to reference the obtaining islets for your grant.

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Human Islet Phenotyping Program (HIPP)

Human Islet Phenotyping Data Pipeline

A HIPP data pipeline has been created using the latest technologies and will be secure, easy to use, and accessible via desktop as well as mobile devices, providing standardized purity, viability, composition, and hormone secretion measures. HIPP will provide additional phenotypic data on islet shipments from islet isolation centers affiliated with IIDP. These data will include quantity, viability and potency assessments through standardized assays.

The centers send formalin-fixed, embedded native pancreas samples to the coordinating center for slide creation, staining, storage, and pathological analysis, creating a histology sample bank for islet recipients. >200 samples have been processed, >600 stained images are on the website, and >4,500 unstained slides are available to investigators.

The IIDP is planning to launch the availability of additional donor data on each islet isolation in the near future to further assist investigators in evaluating the donor characteristics of islet samples they received.

For several years the IIDP has been providing international investigators with human islets from the 5 islet isolation centers. To date the IIDP has served 9 countries outside the United States.

As visualizations for potential islet recipients, our centers upload pre-broadcast count images of dithizone stained islets, with zoom feature and an islet size template on the counting dish.

A coordinating center pilot study compared standard IIDP shipping method (2008) to cold shipping Prodo Labs protocol; the new protocol was equal to/better than standard, saving the program 64% in islet shipment costs via less expensive materials, lower media volume, and reduced FedEx costs.