- Network for Pancreatic Organ Donors with Diabetes
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Network for Pancreatic Organ Donors with Diabetes 
Founded 2007 Origins The criticial need to understand the human pancreas Key people Mark Atkinson, Roberto Gianani, George Eisenbarth, Alberto Pugliese, Martha Campbell-Thompson, Joyce Niland Area served International Focus Recovering donated tissues from organ donors with type 1 diabetes and sharing them with approved researchers seeking to prevent, reverse, and cure the disease.[1] Method Collaborative Resarch Endowment Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Employees 7 Staff Website www.jdrfnpod.org The Network for Pancreatic Organ Donors with Diabetes or nPOD is a collaborative type 1 diabetes research project funded by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). nPOD supports scientific investigators by providing, without cost, rare and difficult to obtain tissues beneficial to their research. nPOD currently supports over 50 type 1 diabetes-related scientific studies at institutions around the world. nPOD hopes to prove a useful resource to the community of researchers dedicated to finding a cure for type 1 diabetes.[2]
Contents
History
Most studies on pancreata from organ donors were abandoned in the 1970s, but some scientists continued to research it instead of focusing on the NOD mouse. Two of these scientists were Roberto Gianani and George Eisenbarth at the University of Colorado in Denver. Gianani, Eisenbarth, and their team were screening tissues for islet autoantibodies (an early sign that a patient may be developing type 1 diabetes). At the same time, two scientists in Finland, Heikki Hyöty at the University of Tampere and Mikael Knip at the University of Helsinki, had started to screen cadaver organ donors for islet autoantibodies. Thanks to funding from Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) they carried out a proof-of-concept study demonstrating the feasibility of the basic idea of nPOD during the years 2000-2002. Collectively, the groups in Denver and Finland first conceived of the basic idea behind nPOD, creating an organizing structure to procure and distribute pancreases to scientists. They both approached the National Institutes of Health (NIH) about funding the project. NIH rejected the idea as too ambitious and unrealistic, but JDRF, who was at the presentation, saw the potential gain from the idea and decided to support it.
JDRF needed to find a leader for nPOD that would spearhead this daunting task, which would be a major paradigm shift in the field of organ research. Mark Atkinson was identified as someone who had no stake in holding on to pancreases, and someone would encourage researchers across the globe to collaborate in an unprecedented way. Atkinson dubbed the project "The Little Engine That Could" and nPOD was born.
The project started with seven scientists investigating the acquired pancreases, but has now expanded to sixty. About 12% of the annual 8,000 organ donors in the united states are screened for their usefulness in the nPOD project, though the organization believes that number will be up to 30% in the near term.[3]
Structure
nPOD is governed by an executive committee, composed of leading diabetes investigators, representatives from the JDRF, and members of the JDRF Lay Review Committee. nPOD data and tissue samples are processed through four different cores.
The Administrative Core is located at the University of Florida. Other governing bodies include the Tissue Prioritization Committee and the Publications and Presentations Committee.
The Islet Autoantibody Core, located at the University of Colorado, manages quality control and assurance for nPOD screening laboratories and also tests nPOD tissues for diabetes-related autoantibodies.
The Data Management Core, located at the City of Hope in Duarte, California, handles all data related aspects of the project, serves as the projects interface with the United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS) and manages the autoantibody database.
The Organ Procurement and Pathology Core is located at the University of Florida, receives nPOD tissue directly from Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs) and ships these tissues directly to investigators. [4]
Research
nPOD's investigators are actively pursuing research in: Beta cell regeneration, immunology, metabolic and developmental studies, pathology, and type 1 diabetes etiology.[5]
A list of nPOD publications that has been in peer reviewed scientific journals can be found here.
A list of nPOD abstracts and oral presentations can be found here.
References
- ^ "http://www.jdrfnpod.org/forms/npodbrochure.pdf".
- ^ "http://www.jdrfnpod.org/index.php".
- ^ Dinsmoor, Robert S. "The Little nPOD That Could." JDRF Countdown Spring 2010: 12-14. Print.
- ^ "http://www.jdrfnpod.org/how-we-work.php".
- ^ "http://www.jdrfnpod.org/current-projects.php".
External links
Categories:- Diabetes organizations
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
