JDRF Network for Pancreatic Organ Donors with Diabetes

Visit the JDRF nPOD website

The Network for Pancreatic Organ Donors with Diabetes (nPOD) program, supported by JDRF at the University of Florida, is the world’s largest open research consortium dedicated to the study of the human pancreas.

Founded in 2007, the JDRF nPOD biorepository housed at the University of Florida supports the collection of pancreata and related tissues from organ donors with type 1 diabetes (T1D) which are made available to scientific investigators around the world including in the U.S., England, Finland, Canada and Australia.

With nearly $3 million in annual program funding, nPOD researchers are conducting more than 150 studies that seek to unlock the mysteries of type 1 diabetes. Investigators hope to address the most pressing questions related to how the disease develops and progresses including, but not limited to the immunopathology of T1D, beta cell physiology and dysfunction, pancreas development, beta cell regeneration, environmental factors and medical imaging.

Thanks to nPOD, I think we’re at the precipice of being able to change much of what’s been put into textbooks and review articles on type 1 diabetes in terms of how the disease develops and what are its potential causes.”

— Mark Atkinson, Ph.D.

nPOD has three main goals:

Obtain specimens from organ donors with T1D and establish a research resource of pancreas and disease relevant tissues (pancreatic lymph nodes, spleen, thymus, blood, and other) from organ donors with T1D, obtained at any point after clinical diagnosis, or during the prediabetes phase, when islet autoimmunity silently leads to beta cell destruction (donors identified by screening for islet autoantibodies)
Distribute specimens to nPOD scientists anywhere in the world for comprehensive and diversified investigations of human T1D
Promote collaboration, by using tissue and real time data-sharing, and by developing and managing synergistic project interactions as well as focused working groups, all to facilitate a comprehensive understanding of human T1D and identify new therapeutic targets

Becoming an Organ Donor

nPOD investigators are continually humbled by the decision families make to contribute to type 1 diabetes research through the gift of organ donation. While we make every effort to honor the wishes of the donor family, we cannot accept all donations. At this time, the following groups of donor gifts are of particular importance:

Donors with longstanding type 1 diabetes
Donors with recently diagnosed type 1 diabetes (less than seven years duration)
Donors who are positive for type 1 diabetes autoantibodies, are between the ages of 0-30, and are not diagnosed with type 1 diabetes

For more information on organ donation and nPOD’s online donor form, visit nPOD’s donor page.

You can also email nPOD at npod@pathology.ufl.edu.

Phone: (352) 273-8277 | Toll Free: 866-731-6585

nPOD Staff

Mark Atkinson, Ph.D., nPOD Executive Director
Alberto Pugliese, M.D., nPOD co-Executive Director
Mingder Yang. Ph.D., nPOD Director
Irina Kusmartseva, Ph.D., nPOD Director of Organ Procurement and Pathology Core
Sirlene Cechin, Ph.D., nPOD Working Groups/DataShare Scientist
Kurt Reis, nPOD Donor Development and OPO Liaison
Amanda Myers, nPOD Investigator Coordinator
Kim Young, nPOD Grant Coordinator
Teresa Keppel, nPOD Program Assistant

Current nPOD Investigators at the University of Florida

**Mark Atkinson, Ph.D.**
Projects: Quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the endocrine & exocrine pancreas in type 1 diabetes; Beta cell regeneration for Type 1 diabetes; De-differentiation during progression of beta cell loss in type 1 diabetes; Pancreatic Immunologic and Metabolic Parameters; Epigenetic analysis of nPOD islet cells; Diabetes and Pancreatic Cancers: Pilot study with molecular profiling; Human pancreatic tissue proteome of type 1 diabetes; Pancreatic duct glands in type 1 diabetes

**Todd Brusko, Ph.D.**
Projects: Epigenetic analysis of nPOD islet cells; Molecular Signature of Autoimmune T cells in Type 1 Diabetes and Treg TCR deep sequencing. Detect Cd226+ Treg and Teff ininsulitis patient samples

**Martha Campbell-Thompson, D.V.M., Ph.D.**
Projects: Beta cell regeneration for Type 1 Diabetes; Diabetes and Pancreatic Cancers: Pilot study with molecular profiling; Mapping the histopathological landscape of human T1D: a pilot study (CLARITY)