P-225

Human islet distribution activity for basic research at a single center program

T. Kin¹, D. O'Gorman², A. Schroeder², C. Onderka², B. Richer², S. Rosichuk², A.M.J. Shapiro^1
1 University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada; ² Alberta Health Services, Edmonton, Canada

Objective: The Clinical Islet Laboratory (CIL) at the University of Alberta/Alberta Health Services distributes human islets for basic research when islet preparations do not meet release criteria for transplantation.This report highlights the CIL islet distribution activity for diabetes research over the 3-year period.

Methods: We reviewed our islet isolation batch files and islet shipment records for the past 3 years. Shipments of acinar enriched fraction for research were not included to this report.

Results: In 2010, 37 of 78 islet preparations went for clinical transplantation; 29 were shipped for basic research; and 12 were not utilized due to insufficient islet yield with no research consent. The CIL distributed 6.3 million IEQs of islets within 127 shipments to 3 investigators at the Alberta Diabetes Institute and 5 others outside of Alberta including Israel in 2010. The number of preparations for research use was stable over the 3-year period (29/23/26 in 2010/2009/2008, respectively). Consent for research was obtained in more than half of cases (61.5/64.1/52.5%). Islet yield used for research per isolation was 218, 212, and 201 x10³ IEQs, respectively. The number of activated investigators was stable as well (8/11/8), although there were only two investigators before 2007. In 2010 and 2009, each investigator received fewer islets per shipment (49,820/40,948/75,635 IEQs) whereas each received islets more frequently (21.5/15.5/11.2 times per year). This paradigm shift would be desirable for investigators because most require ~30,000 IEQs per shipment and more frequent islet shipment results in a larger sample size in experimentation.

Conclusions: After an initial expansion in the number of investigators requesting islets, our islet distribution activity has been stable over the years in terms of total productivity of islets for research use. The current supply versus demand ratio in our program appears to be appropriate.

P-225

Human islet distribution activity for basic research at a single center program

T. Kin¹, D. O'Gorman², A. Schroeder², C. Onderka², B. Richer², S. Rosichuk², A.M.J. Shapiro^1
1 University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada; ² Alberta Health Services, Edmonton, Canada

Objective: The Clinical Islet Laboratory (CIL) at the University of Alberta/Alberta Health Services distributes human islets for basic research when islet preparations do not meet release criteria for transplantation.This report highlights the CIL islet distribution activity for diabetes research over the 3-year period.

Methods: We reviewed our islet isolation batch files and islet shipment records for the past 3 years. Shipments of acinar enriched fraction for research were not included to this report.

Results: In 2010, 37 of 78 islet preparations went for clinical transplantation; 29 were shipped for basic research; and 12 were not utilized due to insufficient islet yield with no research consent. The CIL distributed 6.3 million IEQs of islets within 127 shipments to 3 investigators at the Alberta Diabetes Institute and 5 others outside of Alberta including Israel in 2010. The number of preparations for research use was stable over the 3-year period (29/23/26 in 2010/2009/2008, respectively). Consent for research was obtained in more than half of cases (61.5/64.1/52.5%). Islet yield used for research per isolation was 218, 212, and 201 x10³ IEQs, respectively. The number of activated investigators was stable as well (8/11/8), although there were only two investigators before 2007. In 2010 and 2009, each investigator received fewer islets per shipment (49,820/40,948/75,635 IEQs) whereas each received islets more frequently (21.5/15.5/11.2 times per year). This paradigm shift would be desirable for investigators because most require ~30,000 IEQs per shipment and more frequent islet shipment results in a larger sample size in experimentation.

Conclusions: After an initial expansion in the number of investigators requesting islets, our islet distribution activity has been stable over the years in terms of total productivity of islets for research use. The current supply versus demand ratio in our program appears to be appropriate.