Investigator News

nPOD Welcomes 3 new projects!

We would like to welcome the following projects, which were recently approved to use nPOD specimens in their research, making the total number of projects nPOD supports over 70. Please visit our website to view a full list of nPOD investigator projects.

Project Title: Genetic Modification and Immunologic Checkpoints of Proinsulin Response
Principal Investigator: Ivana Durinovic-Bello, Ph.D.
Co-Investigators: Thomas Wight, Ph.D. & Damien Chaussabel, Ph.D.
Institution: Benaroya Research Institute, Seattle, WA

Project Title: Examination of ER Stress Markers in Type 1 Diabetes Samples in Humans
Principal Investigator: Gokahn Hotamisligil, M.D., Ph.D.
Co-Investigator: Feyza Engin, Ph.D.
Institution: Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA

Project Title: Immunological Indentification of Molecular Markers of Oxidative and Nitrosative Stress in Beta Cells During the Early Stages of Human Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus
Principal Investigator: Shiva Reddy, M.Sc., Ph.D.
Institution: The University of Auckland, New Zealand

New nPOD Investigator Publications

Congratulations to the following investigators for their recent publications utilizing nPOD resources:

• Shamina Green-Mitchell et al., in Jerry Nadler's lab for their technical brief titled, "On-tissue identification of insulin: In situ reduction coupled with mass spectrometry imaging" in August's issue of Proteomics Clinical Applications
• Ken Coppieters et al., in Matthias von Herrath's lab for their research article titled, "Persistent glucose transporter expression on pancreatic beta cells from longstanding type 1 diabetic individuals" in September's issue of Diabetes/Metabolism Research and Reviews

Please click here if you would like to see more nPOD publications.

Research Spotlight

A big thank you to Huriya Beyan, Ph.D., who gave a seminar at the University of Florida on November 2nd. Her seminar, titled "A DNA Methylation Signature Associated with Risk of Childhood-onset Type 1 Diabetes", highlighted the importance of nPOD samples to this research. If you would like to read more about Dr. Beyan's research, please click here.

Congratulations OPPC!

OPPC earns high score

We are excited to report that the nPOD Organ Processing and Pathology Core (OPPC) lab recently scored a 95.9% on the International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories (ISBER) assessment! ISBER is the only international forum that addresses the technical, legal, ethical, and managerial issues relevant to repositories of biological and environmental specimens. Way to go OPPC, keep up the great work!

OPPC reaches record numbers

nPOD's OPPC has been very busy this year! Already in 2011, nPOD has recovered 50 cases, which is a record number for our project. We are so thankful for these precious cases and know that through the efforts of the OPPC, this resource is being put to good use among our investigators. In fact, the OPPC has already sent 242 distribution/shipments to investigators this year, this is already a 34% increase over the 181 distributions/shipments that were distributed in 2010. That is nearly 5 shipments every week! Thank you to our OPPC for all of their long hours and hard work!

Annual Meeting

We are eagerly preparing for nPOD's 4th annual meeting. This year's meeting will be held in sunny Miami, Florida in January 2012. This scientific meeting will give nPOD investigators the opportunity to present their most recent discoveries related to type 1 diabetes research. There were 40 abstracts submitted for review for the meeting. Each abstract will be presented by poster, and many will be presented during our general sessions. A few of the general session topics include "Viral Etiology", "From Genetics to Gene Expression", "Emerging Technologies and Novel Research Avenues" and several more. Our hope is that this meeting will inspire new collaborations among our investigators and move us closer to our goal of finding a cure. For more information on this meeting, please click here.

Exciting Opportunities

nPOD invited to present at the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) meeting

nPOD is always looking for innovative ways to collaborate with health care providers in order to identify and provide rare and precious type 1 diabetic specimens to our investigators. Dr. Alberto Pugliese, nPOD Co-Executive Director, was invited to speak at their annual meeting. He proposed a major strategic initiative aimed at identifying potential donors with recent onset of the disease which will ultimately help nPOD achieve its goals. The group was enthusiastic about collaborating with nPOD and our Director, Suzanne Ball, is directly involved with the plan and protocol that is now being developed. nPOD is proud to be a sponsor at the Advanced Emergency Medicine Conference in 2012. This is a high priority and we are implementing plans to bring this project into fruition in the shortest time possible. Please stay tuned for updates.

New investigator collaboration

The cause of type 1 diabetes is not yet known, and there are many hypotheses as to what it could be. One leading idea is that the disease is caused by persistent viral infections. To help our investigators get closer to discovering the cause, and hopefully a cure, the nPOD team has held several webinars to provide our investigators with a forum for sharing and discussing their interesting results from particular cases examined. Recently, a viral workgroup has formed from these discussions to answer the question of viral presence in nPOD tissues. With over 30 participants, a strategic working plan has already been developed and currently even smaller groups are moving forward with immunostaining and RNA analyses.

Meeting/Conference Updates

nPOD's Organ Procurement Organization (OPO) Workshop

We hosted our 2nd annual OPO workshop in mid-October in Gainesville. This in-depth workshop provides an overview of the nPOD program for coordinators and research managers from our OPO partners around the country. This year 20 OPO representatives attended and earned either CTBS or CEPTC continuing education credits as the nPOD staff and investigators discussed our program and the cutting edge research that we support. We also reviewed nPOD's inclusion criteria and held interactive discussions on how to improve process. We want to thank all OPOs that attended, and encourage research coordinators, hospital development staff and front line staff interested in learning more about the nPOD program to join us for our next workshop. Please contact Jayne Moraski at: jmoraski@ufl.edu for further information.

2011 meeting/conference successes

nPOD exhibited at many different conferences this past year exposing our project to hundreds of attendees and we were even sponsors of meeting sessions. While attending the American Diabetes Association (ADA) conference nPOD staff were able to meet with nPOD investigators face-to-face and recruit new investigators to the project. nPOD staff also attended conferences held by the Association for Organ Procurement Organizations (AOPO) and the Organization for Transplant Professionals (NATCO). Our participation in these conferences directly resulted in new relationships and collaborations with more OPO's. We hope that by exhibiting at these and other meetings next year we will continue to have such positive interactions and outcomes.