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The Integrated Islet Distribution Program (IIDP) began at City of Hope (COH) as the Islet Cell Resource in 2002, and has been operating as the IIDP since 2009, as the largest organized effort in the world to provide human islet preparations for research. Because human islet research is critical to understanding pancreatic cellular biology and the pathophysiology of diabetes, and given the substantial differences to murine islets, access to the human islets is essential to translate findings from cell lines and mouse models. Therefore, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), continues to fund the IIDP, led by Drs. Joyce C. Niland and Carmella Evans-Molina, which affords ongoing coordination, information technology, and financial infrastructure, while offering innovative new biomaterials and integrated data to advance diabetes research.
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Joyce C. Niland, Ph.D., as Chair of the Department of Diabetes & Cancer Discovery Science at the Arthur Riggs Diabetes and Metabolism Research Institute at City of Hope, with Carmella Evans-Molina, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the Indiana Diabetes Research Center at Indiana University (IU), its Islet and Physiology Core, and the IU Center for Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases, serve as Principal Investigators (PIs) for this program. Each bring their own necessary expertise to this vital program; Dr. Niland with over 35 years of experience in study coordination, informatics, biostatistics, and overseeing national/international coordinating centers and Dr. Evans-Molina as a physician scientist with expertise in human islet biology, specializing in clinical diabetes. The PIs are supported by a staff that have an impressive 100+ years of experience in relevant programming, islet biology, regulatory, biostatistical and administrative expertise to assist in IIDP management.
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 5 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 donor pancreata, 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, as well as non-islet pancreatic tissue. Each shipment is accompanied by comprehensive donor and isolation information, pre-shipment 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 pancreatic tissue from each isolation center to subscribing investigators world-wide, tracks acceptance of tissue, and maintains feedback from the recipients. More information
The Human Islet Phenotyping Program (HIPP) was established per NIH mandate in the summer of 2016. Through a peer-reviewed application process, the Vanderbilt Diabetes Center was selected as the program site. Since its inception, the HIPP has been directed by Dr. Marcela Brissova who is also director of the Islet Procurement and Analysis Core at the Vanderbilt Diabetes Research and Training Center. The goal of this initiative is to provide standardized assessment of IIDP-contracted human islet preparations in order to understand the relationship between islet phenotypic features and key donor characteristics. Real-time and complementary data are currently available to the IIDP-affiliated Islet Isolation Centers and Investigators through the IIDP-HIPP database.
In 2020, IIDP implemented a Human Islet Genotyping Initiative (HIGI) via a subaward to Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA with Dr. Anna Gloyn, a top tier genetics collaborator with expertise in diabetes. HIGI provides raw, synthesized, and diabetic genetic risk scores for each islet isolation, which will be made available via the IIDP website data portal.
The IIDP prides itself on providing excellent customer service and robust facilitation of high-level science to all approved investigators who participate in our program world-wide. IIDP has developed a custom Matching Algorithm for Islet Distribution (MAID) to provide fair and equitable human islet distribution from our contracted islet isolation centers to our subscribing investigators via our computerized Islet Allocation System.
Researchers interested in accessing islets, tissue, or data through the IIDP must complete an online application. Approved investigators are given access to the IIDP secure website and personalized pages containing details of their islet distribution records, including donor data, islet isolation information, and pre-shipment assessment results, alerts to pending offers or warnings for limited funds or missing feedback forms, and protected access to study’s financial information. More information
For inclusion within grant application: Human Pancreatic Islets for Experimentation Human pancreatic islets are obtained through the NIDDK-funded Integrated Islet Distribution Program (IIDP; see https://iidp.coh.org/), on a subscription fee basis. The IIDP works with leading islet isolation centers in the U.S. to distribute high quality human islets to the diabetes research community. Fees are based on number of islets needed at a rate of $0.12/IEQ. You can subscribe for any number of islets you need and can re-subscribe at any time.