Beta-Pro Donates Human Islet Cells to Diabetes Researcher

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Sep 22, 2010, 11:59 ET

GORDONSVILLE, Va., Sept. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- The cellular services company Beta-Pro LLC, announced today that it donated more than 300,000 human pancreatic islet cells to nationally renowned diabetes researcher Raghavendra G. Mirmira, M.D., Ph.D., the Eli Lilly & Co. Professor of Pediatric Diabetes, Indiana University School of Medicine, Herman B. Wells Center for Pediatric Research. Dr. Mirmira and colleagues subsequently published their work in leading scientific journals, including, The Journal of Clinical Investigation* and The Journal of Biological Chemistry.**

"Beta-Pro has been our exclusive source of human islets for the last two years," said Dr. Mirmira. "We have been delighted with both the frequency and quality of islets, which are now a crucial component of our NIH and JDRF-funded research projects."

"We want to congratulate Dr. Mirmira on the publication of his manuscripts in these peer-reviewed journals and on his ongoing research efforts in beta-cell generation," said Beta-Pro Principle Scientific Advisor and Professor of Surgery at the University of Virginia, Kenneth L. Brayman, M.D., Ph.D. "We appreciate Dr. Mirmira citing Beta-Pro LLC as a source for human islets and wish him the best of luck in his future study of diabetes at the IU School of Medicine."

Dr. Mirmira serves as a member of the Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases B Subcommittee of the Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Initial Review Group, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institute of Health, and on the editorial boards for the journals Diabetes, Molecular Endocrinology, and American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Beta-Pro isolates and distributes insulin-producing islet cells from surplus organs not placed for whole organ transplant in GMP and GLP facilities. Beta-Pro then charges and recovers fees for the costs for organ procurement, processing, preservation, quality control, storage, handling, and delivery of islets, other biomaterials, and biological data. To learn more, visit the new Web site at www.betaprolabs.com.

*Maier, B., Ogihara, T., Trace, A.P., Tersey, S.A., Robbins, R.D., Chakrabarti, S.K., Nunemaker, C.S., Stull, N.D., Taylor, C.A., Thompson, J.E., Dondero, R.S., Lewis, E.C., Dinarello, C.A., Nadler, J.L., and Mirmira, R.G. The unique hypusine modification of eIF5A promotes islet beta cell inflammation and dysfunction in mice. J Clin Invest. 2010; 120(6):2156-21702.

**Ogihara, T., Chuang, J.C., Ogihara, T., Chuang, J.C., Vestermark, G.L., Garmey, J.C., Ketchum, R.J., Huang, X., Brayman, K.L., Thorner, M.O., Repa, J.J., Mirmira, R.G., and Evans-Molina, C. Liver X receptor agonists augment human islet function through activation of anaplerotic pathways and glycerolipid/free fatty acid cycling. J Biol Chem. 2010; 285(8):5392-5404.