Eight new islet cell transplantation centers to open internationally

   The Juvenile Diabetes Foundation announced at the annual meeting of the American Society of Transplantation in Chicago that with its funding, eight new centers for human islet cell transplantation research are opening in North America and Europe.
    The Foundation has granted more than $10 million to establish the centers, which will be located at Harvard (at the Joslin Diabetes Center), the University of Miami, the University of Minnesota, Washington University, Pacific Northwest Research Institute, the University of Alberta, Canada, Vrije Universiteit in Brussels, Belgium, and the University of Giessen, Germany.

    Juvenile Diabetes Foundation vice president for research Dr. Robert A. Goldstein noted that a major obstacle in islet cell transplantation research has been a shortage of islet cells. ”The result was that laboratory research was limited and clinical trials of islets cells were few and far between. The new centers will help break through these barriers,”

    Dr. Goldstein told the American Society for Transplantation. Dr. Goldstein added that ”by developing common quality standards for islet cells that meet FDA regulations, the centers make it easier for one laboratory to prepare islets another laboratory can use.”

All of the centers are about to begin clinical trials of islet cell transplantation, the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation announced.

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