How We Work

Our Goals

The goals of the nPOD project are to recover relevant tissue from our donor groups, share these gifts with approved scientific investigators who seek to prevent, reverse and ultimately cure the disease and foster collaboration amongst these investigators. In order to achieve these goals, nPOD is comprised of various committees and boards to govern its direction and feasibility. All committee and board members are prominent leaders in their respective fields.

The scientific direction of nPOD is overseen by an outside Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), comprised of prominent diabetes investigators across the country.

Cores

The operations for recovering, sample processing and distributing and data management of nPOD donor gifts are done through five different cores:

Administrative Core

The Administrative Core, located at the University of Florida, coordinates relationships with Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs) and screening labs, which are of critical importance to organ recovery. The administrative core also coordinates investigators relations, special projects and day-to-day activities. The current members of the nPOD administrative core are:

Autoantibody Core

The 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 current members of the autoantibody core are:

Data Management Core

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 nPOD’s autoantibody database. The current member of the data management core is:

nPOD Data Portal Development and Management

The current members of the nPOD Data Portal Development and Management are:

Organ Processing and Pathology Core

The Organ Processing and Pathology Core (OPPC), located at the University of Florida, receives nPOD donor tissue directly from OPOs, processes the tissue, ships samples directly to investigators and stores case samples and data. The current members of the OPPC are:

nPOD West

The nPOD West, located at the City of Hope, processes pancreatic tissue for simultaneous islet isolation and tissue slices from selected nPOD donors. It ships islets and fresh tissue slices directly to nPOD investigators who are approved to receive these samples. The current members of nPOD West are:

Large Scale Electron Microscopy (EM) Core

The Large Scale Electron Microscopy (EM) Core, within the nPOD program, is located at the University Medical Center in Groningen, The Netherlands. The EM Core serves as the primary site for processing nPOD donors’ tissue samples for high-resolution imaging using electron microscopy. Obtained images and data of complete cross-sections of human islets with nanometer resolution are being shared with nPOD investigators via the portal (www.nanotomy.org) that allows experts in different labs to access and further analyze the data. The current members of the nPOD EM Core are:

Committees

In order to foster collaboration amongst nPOD investigators, the following committees were formed and are investigator-run:

The Publications and Presentations Committee (PPC) specifies policies regarding acknowledgement to the use of nPOD materials and images in all forms of publications and presentations (manuscript, abstract, oral presentation, etc.).

The current members of the PPC are:

  • John Kaddis, PhD, City of Hope
  • Alberto Pugliese, MD, City of Hope
  • Desmond Schatz, MD, University of Florida

The Tissue Prioritization Committee (TPC) reviews new investigator applications to determine the scientific merit and feasibility of using nPOD samples, as well as discusses changes to current investigators projects. The TPC also serves to mediate collaborations among current and new investigators. For more information about how the TPC operates, please view the TPC Guidelines.

The current members of the TPC are:

  • Susan Bonner-Weir, PhD, Joslin Diabetes Center and Harvard University
  • Roberto Mallone, MD, PhD, INSERM Cochin Institute
  • Ivan Gerling, PhD, University of Tennessee
  • Alberto Pugliese, MD, City of Hope
  • Sarah Richardson, PhD, University of Exeter Medical School
  • Rachel Friedman, PhD, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
  • Rebecca Hull-Meichle, PhD, University of Alberta
  • Megan Levings, PhD, University of British Columbia
  • William Hagopian, PhD, University of Washington Diabetes Research Center

Scientific Advisory Board

The scientific direction of nPOD is overseen by an outside Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), comprised of prominent diabetes investigators across the country. The current members of the SAB are:

  • Raghu Mirmira, M.D., Ph.D. – University of Chicago
  • Steve Rich, Ph.D. – University of Virginia
  • Anke Schulte, Ph.D – Bayer
  • Emily Sims, M.D. – Indiana University
  • Kendra Vehik, MPH, Ph.D. – University of South Florida
  • Bruce Verchere, Ph.D. – University of British Columbia
  • Matthias von Herrath, M.D. – Novo Nordisk