DUARTE, Calif., January 19, 2010 — The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) has awarded a $16.9 million grant to City of Hope’s Department of Information Sciences to bolster its role as a national distributing center for human islet cells and to create a similar center for intestinal stem cell research.

Part of the funding –- a  five-year, $14 million contract –- will advance the department’s position as the nation’s islet  cell distribution coordination center, and the remaining $2.9 million grant will fund the creation of a similar center for the NIDDK’s recently formed Intestinal Stem Cell Consortium.

Located in the pancreas, islet cells produce insulin, which is required to metabolize sugar.  People with diabetes have difficulty making their own insulin and may require insulin injections or, in extreme cases, islet transplants.

City of Hope established the Islet Distribution Coordinating Center in 2002 to facilitate the distribution of islets produced by 14 islet isolation facilities across the U.S., including one at City of Hope.

“Currently, the number of islets  produced meets only two-thirds of the overall research demand,” said Joyce C. Niland, Ph.D., Edward and Estelle Alexander Chair in Information Sciences and chair of the Department of Information Sciences at City of Hope.  Niland is principal investigator for both the Islet Distribution Coordinating Center contract and the grant to establish an intestinal stem cell coordinating center.

To increase the number of centers and ensure that the cells are equitably distributed among all researchers, Niland and her colleagues created an interactive Web site through which approved islet investigators apply to receive the cells for their work. 

The coordinating center also will use the funds to establish contracts with other laboratories producing human islets for research.

Once contracted, these production facilities will distribute the islets using an algorithm, a formula developed at City of Hope that evaluates researchers’ needs, including the number, type and characteristics of islets required for experimentation. 

“By contracting with more production labs and optimizing our islet distribution algorithm, our goal is to meet 100 percent of the demand within the next few years,” she added.

The funding also will create the Intestinal Stem Cell Coordinating Center at City of Hope, one of eight research projects nationwide within the NIDDK’s Intestinal Stem Cell Consortium, which was created to establish efficient and effective ways to isolate, preserve and characterize intestinal stem cells. 

Niland and her team will develop administrative procedures, coordinate resources, ensure the quality of stem cells and manage the data produced by the consortium researchers.

Researchers aim to study intestinal stem cells to better understand their biology and eventually help develop therapies for an array of intestinal diseases, including cancer.