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:
- Mark Atkinson, Ph.D., nPOD Executive Director, Professor
University of Florida
(352) 273-8276
atkinson@ufl.edu - Alberto Pugliese, M.D., nPOD Co-Executive Director, Chair, Department of Diabetes Immunology
City of Hope
(305) 243-5348
apugliese@coh.org - Carmella Evans-Molina, Ph.D., M.D., nPOD Co-Executive Director, Professor
Indiana University School of Medicine
(317) 278-3177
cevansmo@iu.edu - Irina Kusmartseva, Ph.D., nPOD Director
University of Florida
(352) 273-9296
inkusmartseva@ufl.edu - Robert O’Flynn, B.A., HDS-C, nPOD Donor Development and OPO Liaison
University of Florida
(352) 273-9271
robert.oflynn@ufl.edu - Brittany Pratt, B.A., nPOD Investigator Coordinator
University of Florida
(352) 273-9268
brittany.pratts@ufl.edu - Alice Zhang, nPOD Program Assistant
University of Florida
(352) 273-9268
zhanga@ufl.edu
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:
- Liping Yu, M.D., nPOD Autoantibody Core Director
University of Colorado Health Science Center
303-724-6808
Liping.Yu@uchsc.edu - Clive Wasserfall, PhD, nPOD Laboratory Scientist
University of Florida
(352) 273-9298
clive@ufl.edu
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:
- John Kaddis, Ph.D., nPOD Data Management Core Director
City of Hope National Medical Center
(626) 256-4673 ext. 63377
jkaddis@coh.org
nPOD Data Portal Development and Management
The current members of the nPOD Data Portal Development and Management are:
- John Holmes, Ph.D., Professor of Medical Informatics in Epidemiology
University of Pennsylvania
jhholmes@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
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:
- Helmut Hiller, M.S., nPOD OPPC Manager
University of Florida
(352) 273-7737
hhiller@ufl.edu - Maria Beery, M.S., CaRE-T1D OPPC Manager
University of Florida
(352) 273-7737
mariabeery@pathology.ufl.edu - Robin Foss, B.A., B.H.S., P.A. (ASCP), Pathologists’ Assistant
University of Florida
(352) 273-7737
fossrm@pathology.ufl.edu - Ellen Verney, M.S., Research Specialist
University of Florida
(352) 273-7737
everney@ufl.edu - Amanda Ramella, B.S., HTL (ASCP), Histotechnologist
University of Florida
(352) 273-7737
aramella@ufl.edu - Casey Grubel, B.S., Research Technician
University of Florida
(352) 273-7737
caseygrubel@ufl.edu - Kacie Geelhoed, B.S., Research Technician
University of Florida
(352) 273-7737
kgeelhoed@ufl.edu - Alexis Meier, B.A., Research Technician
University of Florida
(352) 273-7737
alexis.meier@ufl.edu
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:
- Julia Panzer, Ph.D., nPOD West Director
City of Hope
jpanzer@coh.org - Issac Snowhite, Ph.D., Staff Scientist
City of Hope
isnowhite@coh.org - Pablo Garcia, B.S., Research Associate II
City of Hope
pgarcia@coh.org
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:
- Ben N. G. Giepmans, PhD, nPOD Nanotomy Core Director
UMC Groningen, The Netherlands
(+31-50) 361-6133
b.n.g.giepmans@umcg.nl - Anouk H.G. Wolters, BSc, nPOD Nanotomy Core EM Lead Technician
UMC Groningen, The Netherlands
(+31-50) 361-6175
a.h.g.wolters@umcg.nl - Kim Kats, nPOD Nanotomy Core EM Technician
UMC Groningen, The Netherlands
(+31-50) 361-6111
k.kats@umcg.nl
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