Information on Organ Donation

At nPOD, we are continually humbled by the decision families make to contribute to type 1 diabetes research through organ donation. A family's gift to diabetes research is the gift of knowledge. While we make every effort to honor the wishes of the donor family, we cannot accept all donations at this time.

nPOD generally accepts these donations through accredited organ procurement organizations (OPOs) that are authorized across the United States. To further scientific knowledge, the following groups of donor gifts to nPOD investigators are of particular importance:

Donors with diagnosed Type 1 diabetes:

These donors are potentially key to helping our scientific investigators unlock the early disease process in Type 1 diabetes and answer fundamental questions about the autoimmune process that leads to the destruction of the insulin producing beta cells in the pancreas. nPOD depends on Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs) to help us identify these donors.

Donors who have type 1 diabetes-related autoantibodies, are between the ages of 0-45, and have not been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes:

Gifts from this group of donors will help scientists study the autoimmune process at the very earliest stages of beta-cell destruction. To identify these donors, nPOD has set up autoantibody screening laboratories at four locations in the United States.

For general information about organ donation, please visit http://organdonor.gov/. This site has information about transplantation, research, and outlines how you can become an organ donor.