P-223

Setting up a tissue bank for Islet preparation: a cost saving method for starting islet transplantation program in Iran

B. Larijani¹, H. R. Aghayan¹, B. Arjmand¹, S.H. Emami Razavi^2
1 Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; ² Brain & Spinal Cord Injury Repair Research center,Tehran University of Medical Sciences , Tehran, Iran

Objective: The enthusiasms generated by the results of Edmonton protocol, the burden of diabetes and active organ donation system were powerful stimulus to start an islet transplantation program in Iran. As always, Tehran University of Medical Sciences was pioneered and Endocrinology & Metabolism Research Institute (EMRI) accepted the project responsibility. Besides the complexity and technical challenges, the islet preparation needed cleanroom facility , many equipment and reagents that comprised high costs. Considering these facts, EMRI decided to collaborate with Iranian Tissue Bank to start the islet preparation trial with sharing the facility, equipments and technical staff.

Methods: The list of required equipment, reagents and protocols was provided with kindly advice of experts from Canada. Then, process maps and SOPs were drawn up for the entire process. The specific instruments were purchased by the EMRI and general equipment was shared by the tissue bank. After adoption of islet preparation process into the tissue bank some experimental processes were performed.

Results: At a rough estimate the minimum cost of establishing a suitable class 10000 cleanroom was 300000 US$ and it was > 100000 US$ for purchasing general equipment. Saving at least 400000 US$ and employing tissue bank staff resulted in speeding up the project start. The experimental islet preparation helped us to find probable errors, deficiencies, bottlenecks and training requirements. After achieving promising results we could get enough budgets to establish a new cGMP facility for islet and stem cell preparation.

Conclusions: In developing countries limited financial resources is a major obstacle in the way of starting some projects. Share of existing facilities and dividing the project to sequential phases can be good solutions. We believe that this report - as the first experience in the Middle East - can provide valuable information for developing countries with an interest to start similar projects.

P-223

Setting up a tissue bank for Islet preparation: a cost saving method for starting islet transplantation program in Iran

B. Larijani¹, H. R. Aghayan¹, B. Arjmand¹, S.H. Emami Razavi^2
1 Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; ² Brain & Spinal Cord Injury Repair Research center,Tehran University of Medical Sciences , Tehran, Iran

Objective: The enthusiasms generated by the results of Edmonton protocol, the burden of diabetes and active organ donation system were powerful stimulus to start an islet transplantation program in Iran. As always, Tehran University of Medical Sciences was pioneered and Endocrinology & Metabolism Research Institute (EMRI) accepted the project responsibility. Besides the complexity and technical challenges, the islet preparation needed cleanroom facility , many equipment and reagents that comprised high costs. Considering these facts, EMRI decided to collaborate with Iranian Tissue Bank to start the islet preparation trial with sharing the facility, equipments and technical staff.

Methods: The list of required equipment, reagents and protocols was provided with kindly advice of experts from Canada. Then, process maps and SOPs were drawn up for the entire process. The specific instruments were purchased by the EMRI and general equipment was shared by the tissue bank. After adoption of islet preparation process into the tissue bank some experimental processes were performed.

Results: At a rough estimate the minimum cost of establishing a suitable class 10000 cleanroom was 300000 US$ and it was > 100000 US$ for purchasing general equipment. Saving at least 400000 US$ and employing tissue bank staff resulted in speeding up the project start. The experimental islet preparation helped us to find probable errors, deficiencies, bottlenecks and training requirements. After achieving promising results we could get enough budgets to establish a new cGMP facility for islet and stem cell preparation.

Conclusions: In developing countries limited financial resources is a major obstacle in the way of starting some projects. Share of existing facilities and dividing the project to sequential phases can be good solutions. We believe that this report - as the first experience in the Middle East - can provide valuable information for developing countries with an interest to start similar projects.