The Southern California Islet Consortium was formed in 2000 in concert with the development of an islet cell processing facility at City of Hope. The consortium was based upon a collaboration among leading transplant programs in and around Southern California. City of Hope’s islet processing facility serves as central resource to prepare and distribute islets for transplantation and research to consortium sites.
In 2001, the City of Hope islet processing center received the first of multiple grant awards from the NIH/Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) to support its islet isolation and distribution efforts on a national level. The SC-IC islet processing facility has provided millions of islets to support clinical trials and basic science research conducted across the U.S.
The SC-IC performed its first islet transplantation into a patient with type 1 diabetes in April 2004 under the Islet Transplantation Alone trial.
As of May 2011, the SC-IC has performed a total of 44 islet transplants in 20 subjects with type 1 diabetes. Transplant outcomes are consistent with those achieved by leading islet transplant programs around the world (See results).
SC-IC scientists are also exploring several different lines of research to improve islet transplantation so it can someday be made available as an effective treatment and possible cure for all patients with diabetes (See research objectives).
The timeline of achievements outlines major accomplishments made by the SC-IC since its inception in 2000.
