# Islet Procurement and Analysis Core

> **NIH NIH P30** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · 2020 · $122,300

## Abstract

Islet Procurement and Analysis Core (IPA): Project Summary/Abstract
The Islet Procurement and Analysis (IPA) Core was established in 2007 as a result of growing demand for
murine islets from multiple members within the Vanderbilt DRTC. Over the last funding cycle, the IPA Core
provided services to 56 different investigators (49 Vanderbilt and 7 External Non-Profit) by assisting with 2981
procedures. Islet biology, development, and function in normal homeostasis and disease including a broad
spectrum of islet-related processes ranging from intracellular signaling, physiological response and adaptation,
the immunology of type 1 diabetes, the function of islet-enriched transcription factors in development and
maintenance of normal hormone-secreting status and cell fate, all the way to islet transplantation, are major
research areas of the Vanderbilt DRTC. An essential component supporting the experimental pipeline of the
majority of studies falling under this paradigm is our ability to isolate high quality, well-characterized rodent
pancreatic islets, and then to perform complex assays of islet function. In addition, the core provides VDRTC
investigators with high-resolution imaging solutions that allow bulk-tissue-imaging and fine-detail quantitative
assessment of pancreatic islet morphology. Utilizing whole-slide imaging technology, the IPA Core recently
developed and published standards for automated measurement of beta cell mass, and this technique is now
broadly used by VDRTC members. In this cycle of competitive renewal, the throughput of procedures and
number of services under the IPA Core are expected to more than double as part of the newly established
Quality Control Core Facility (QCCF) for the NIDDK-supported Integrated Islet Distribution Program (IIDP),
which distributes human islets nationwide and internationally from six US-based islet isolation centers. This
novel and essential QCCF program centered within the IPA Core will utilize the robust infrastructure, services,
and expertise of the IPA Core and directly benefit eleven VDRTC members who already use human islets from
IIDP in their research. Through its standardized assessment of human islet function, cell composition, and islet
health, the QCCF and IPA Core will build, together with the IIDP, a database of well-characterized human islet
preparations from normal pancreas donors that will be an exceptionally valuable resource for the field. By
having a centralized facility, the IPA Core provides VDRTC investigators with high-quality data of standardized
islet assessment by procedures using established SOPs, optimized over the last decade for reproducibility and
time effectiveness, balanced against maximal data output and at a lower price than would otherwise be
possible.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9933898
- **Project number:** 5P30DK020593-43
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Marcela Brissova
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $122,300
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** — → —

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9933898

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9933898, Islet Procurement and Analysis Core (5P30DK020593-43). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9933898. Licensed CC0.

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