Publication Date: 4/20/2012
While the Chicago Diabetes Project (CDP) has thus far only performed islet cell transplants on a smaller subset of type 1 patients in clinical trials, their ultimate goal is to one day offer the transplant for everyone with diabetes—including type 2s. José Oberholzer, MD, director of the CDP, explains why this goal is possible, and how he intends to get there.
By: John Parkinson, Clinical Content Coordinator, DiabetesCare.net
An older man is walking down the beach and comes upon a young man collecting starfishes that a storm has stranded on the beach. Seeing the ones that are still alive, the young man throws them back into the ocean. The older man asks the young man, “what are you doing? There are so few starfishes that you can save.”

The young man bends down and picks up a living starfish and throws it back into the ocean, and he says, “it made a difference to this one.” This story came attached to a piece of crystal that is in Dr. José Oberholzer’s office and was given to him by one of his islet cell transplant patients. The patient—a long-time type 1 who became insulin-independent shortly after receiving a transplant—inscribed on the crystal, “Thanks for everything, starfish number 62.”

This story serves as a medical parable encapsulating both the hope and negativity surrounding islet cell transplantation. For people who have had a transplant, it has been life-transforming for a majority of them. On the other hand, there has been negative criticism coming from within the medical community that these transplants have served very few people and come attached with challenges like having to take a regimen of immunosuppression drugs. The procedure also still needs to be FDA-approved—some have speculated that might be coming in the next year or so.

Still, Dr. Oberholzer hears these criticisms, and chooses not to stay within these limitations, but rather moves beyond them in trying to transform this novel procedure for greater patient utilization. In fact, contrary to the view this procedure is limited in who it can help, the CDP has ambitious plans to try and treat the vast majority of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes patients with the islet cell transplant.

In speaking with Dr. Oberholzer, hope and resolve resonate through his voice. The fact of the matter is, this surgery is the closest thing to a cure that is out there on the horizon. Some of the patients who have this surgery remain insulin-independent for years.

To tell someone that has taken insulin for years that they no longer have to do so is unparalleled to any treatment out there for people who have type 1 diabetes and gives these patients a much improved quality-of-life. This is especially true in the patients who are the main recipients of the novel procedure through its clinical trials: those with hypoglycemic unawareness.

In describing the procedure, Dr. Oberholzer (pictured, lower left) calls islet cell transplantation a “functional cure,” where people become insulin-independent. He also points out that the underlying disease state is not treated; therefore, it is not a traditional cure.

Dr. Oberholzer is an Associate Professor of Surgery, Endocrinology and Diabetes, and Bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), the Director of the Islet and
Pancreas Transplant Program and the Chief of the Division of Transplantation at the University of Illinois Hospital . He has trained at the University of Geneva Switzerland, as well as at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada—which was at the cutting of edge in developing the islet cell transplantation.

As director of the Chicago Diabetes Project, Dr. Oberholzer oversees a group of hand-picked scientists who fit a specific criteria. In creating this mini-elite team, the Chicago Diabetes Project has been able to focus on the specifics of creating a treatment for all people with diabetes and trying to deliver it without the use of immunosuppression drugs.
DiabetesCare.net sat down with Dr. Oberholzer recently to discuss his work on the Chicago Diabetes Project including its unique lab protocols, the CDP’s research philosophy, and how they are trying to overcome the post-transplant protocol of immunosuppression drugs by working on cell encapsulation.

DiabetesCare.net: How did you get involved in the Chicago Diabetes Project? 

Oberholzer: About 10 years ago, I was involved in a project with several scientists and we were talking about the human genome project. A few people involved in that research were able to pull many people together to focus on coding the human genome.

We wrote a paper where we postulated that in order to find a cure for diabetes we would need a human genome project like-minded model where scientists would commit to work together and share openly the data before it is published.

This type of project would need a common funding source where scientists would not worry about grants and could just focus on their work.

When I came to Chicago to work at the University of Illinois at Chicago, I was approached by the Washington Square Health Foundation. They said they would like to fund my idea of having a small group of dedicated scientists working towards a diabetes cure. They would give me a grant, if I committed to this work.

I was intrigued by it, and the university agreed to help me in whichever way they could to make such a project possible. That was at the end of 2004.

The foundation asked me to bring in key players from the field. We were going to meet for one week and at the end of it, we would come up with a roadmap on how we would go about making islet cell transplantation available to everybody.

The two questions that came out of that week were: how do we get an unlimited amount of insulin producing cells and how can we implant those cells without immunosuppression drugs?

In trying to answer these questions, we had our roadmap.
DiabetesCare.net: What makes the Chicago Diabetes Project unique in its approach and philosophy?

Oberholzer: The uniqueness of the CDP is that everyone on the project has committed to each other, and we share everything including innovations and inventions. We have done this as a simple gentleman’s agreement.

Our philosophy is to make a functional cure available to everybody. The main challenge right now is that we can only do islet cell transplantation for a limited patient population.
 
The main reasons we cannot offer this transplant to more people is that as it is an experimental procedure, we have to pay for all the costs; there are a limited amount of organ donors; and we have to give our patients immunosuppression drugs. While the vast majority of patients tolerate these drugs very well, some do not. And we would be very hesitant to use them in children.
 
We have gotten criticized at CDP that what we are doing is not worth it, because it only helps a few people. I have been in this work for nearly two decades, and people say the stories are very touching but very few can have islet cell transplantation.
 
However, many in the medical community recognize that most type 2s would benefit from having an infusion of insulin-producing cells. We postulate that if we did a pancreas transplant in type 2 patients, it would cure a vast majority of these patients.

DiabetesCare.net: Are you talking about a functional cure or a traditional cure for people with type 2 diabetes?

Oberholzer: I would call it a functional cure because in type 2 diabetes, there is no autoimmune issue like in type 1 diabetes, but there is an inflammatory process. Therefore, there still would be the risk of reoccurrence of diabetes. A potential islet cell transplant cannot be an isolated event; it has to be accompanied by lifestyle changes such as weight reduction in those who are obese.

For someone who has type 2 diabetes and they are on insulin, it is very difficult for them to lose weight, and in fact they often gain weight when on it. For example, if they inject too much insulin, then they have to compensate by eating more, then insulin makes them hungry again. It can be a vicious cycle.

You can interrupt this cycle by giving these people just enough islet cells for their bodies to overcome the insulin resistance.

In the Chicago Diabetes Project, we are not only working on therapies for type 1s but we are looking to help all diabetic patients—understanding we won’t be able to treat everyone, but at least the vast majority of them.

Members of the CDP are successful, academic scientists and we have all climbed up the career ladders starting as assistants and associates and becoming full professors. We have all had NIH grants. We have gone through the academic and scientific world and we know what competition means.

We also realize we are never going to find a cure for diabetes, if we continue to work in the traditional grant-funded research model. It is good for having competitive professors, but it horrible for addressing a cure.

Whatever we do in the lab, we ask the question, ‘is it going to contribute to a direct path to a functional cure?’ We don’t want to ask questions, just for the sake of asking; it has to have a practical implication in either creating more insulin-producing cells or protecting them by other means other than medication.

To be a part of the CDP team, you have to have some specific qualifications. I only chose people that have had their own funding; have made significant findings; and they have to be open to share and continue to work on the project even if their own research did not work.

Initially, this concept was very challenging. We had difficulty keeping some people on the project when they realized their research didn’t work. Still the vast majority of the original scientists are still here. 

DiabetesCare.net: CDP has been a participant in the Phase 3 clinical trial being conducted by the NIH Clinical Islet Transplantation Consortium. Where is the CDP with that now, and is the CDP still actively doing islet cell transplants?

Oberholzer: We are approaching the end of the phase 3 trial. We are still performing transplants in the consortium. This is limited now to patients who have had a kidney transplant and are taking immunosuppression drugs already. This is going to be wrapping up in the summer.  

For patients who have normal kidney function, that part of the trial is finished. However, we have a University of Illinois trial that is still going on, and we are still accepting patients. We have been pretty active this year having performed 6 transplants since January.  We will continue until the end of the year and likely beyond that. 

DiabetesCare.net: One of the more challenging elements to islet cell transplantation is that for those who have successful transplants, and remain insulin-free, they have to take immunosuppressants. The CDP is researching cell encapsulation to overcome this challenge. Can you explain what this is, and how far along in the process the research is?

Oberholzer: With encapsulation, the principle is to place a shell around the cell, which would allow the cell to live, gain nutrients, secrete insulin, sense glucose, and protect the islet from the body’s immune system.

In some ways this would be a semi-permeable membrane that lets through small molecules and keeps out large ones that would go through the cell encapsulation to attack the islet cells.
We have had limited clinical trials of which we were a part of through the Chicago Diabetes Project. We worked with a university in Italy and one in Sydney, Australia. Unfortunately, both trials were not a success.

The trial in Italy showed that the islet cell could survive for some time and continue to produce some insulin, but not enough for the patient to be able to stop taking insulin.
We wanted to do a clinical trial in the United States, so we submitted a proposal to the FDA and they requested we do primate experiments.

In monkeys, these capsules provoke a foreign body reaction, and it leads to a little bit of inflammation and to a small scar around the capsules themselves. That scar impedes the free exchange of nutrients and oxygen and ultimately the cells in the capsule die off.

We have established models in the laboratory and we can do the transplant and screen the transplant for materials that will cause that type of reaction.

The biggest impediment to moving forward with this research is financing it. This is very expensive research and there really is no way around doing it with primates. It is an experiment the primates tolerate very well. We insert empty capsules into their abdominal cavity and we do this as minimally invasive microscopic surgery.

We are not as advanced as we hoped. This is something that is working in mice but monkeys and humans are not reacting the same.

DiabetesCare.net: How would you characterize the importance of the encapsulation research versus the other projects you are working on?

Oberholzer: In both energy and finances, we spend equal parts on transplant clinical trials, the capsules, and making the islet cells grow. Therefore, this is a major project. If we can make encapsulation work, it will be a major medical breakthrough and would have consequences that go well beyond diabetes. It would resolve the problems of numerous diseases.

In next week’s Up Close, Dr. Oberholzer’s will provide his clinical perspective when treating patients who have an islet cell transplant.

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© P. Latron/INSERM

A high-throughput automated DNA sequencer is used to track gene mutations tied to T2D.

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© P. Latron/INSERM

DNA extraction from patients’ blood samples using one of the best high-throughput automated platforms in France.

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Helping Froguel is surgeon François Pattou, the director of the Diabetes Biotherapy Unit,² one of EGID’s two other labs. He regularly carries out this operation on his patients at the Lille Regional University Hospital Center (CHRU). “Short-circuiting the upper part of the intestine seems to trigger overproduction of intestinal peptides that revive the secretion of insulin,” he explains. “That’s why we’re now beginning to offer this operation to T2D patients who are not necessarily suffering from severe obesity.” Yet this surgical treatment should only be carried out on patients suffering from the most serious forms of the disease. During the surgery, Pattou takes tissue samples which are sent to Froguel’s lab for genomic analysis. The aim is to discover the genes involved in the resumption of insulin secretion.

But the biotherapy carried out in Pattou’s unit goes even further. One of his teams, led by the diabetes specialist Marie-Christine Vantyghem, has recently obtained spectacular results by transplanting islets of Langerhans, clusters of pancreatic cells that produce insulin and which are defective in so-called type 1 diabetes. “Half of the fourteen transplanted patients no longer need insulin injections, even as long as five years after the transplant. This is the best result ever obtained worldwide,” adds Pattou. The key to this success lies in part in continuous technical improvements performed in the laboratory animal facility, across the courtyard. For instance, researchers there are attempting intramuscular transplants of islets of Langerhans into pigs. But success also relies on work performed before transplant.

In the aseptic environment of the biotherapy platform, Dr. Julie Kerr-Conte’s team has acquired an internationally recognized expertise in isolating islets of Langerhans. Currently, islets are removed from the pancreas of brain-dead donors. In the future, they may come from embryonic stem cells differentiated into pancreatic cells.

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© P. Latron/INSERM

Biotherapy platform specialized in isolating human islets of Langerhans. The researchers’ expertise in this field is internationally renowned.

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EGID’s third laboratory, housed on two university hospital campuses,³ is headed by Bart Staels.⁴ His team tests drugs that may regulate the expression of the genes involved in diabetes and in the resulting cardiovascular diseases. Following the discovery of a link between the disruption of the body’s biological clock and diabetes, the scientists have started studying mice whose circadian rhythm has been perturbated. They identify the genes whose expression is perturbed, and study their transcriptional regulation. The lab has great expertise in the nuclear receptors involved in the transcriptional regulation of genes, some of which are defective in diabetics. “For instance, we’re trying to improve pharmacological molecules that may act on one of these receptors called PPARg,” Staels explains. He is also one of the founders of the firm Genfit, which is developing a new antidiabetic drug that acts on this type of receptor. The drug is currently being tested on a small number of patients. “Our lab is also investigating the role of macrophages–immune cells–and of bile acid in the disease. Here again, certain nuclear receptors seem to play an important role,” he adds.

Fighting the disease on multiple fronts, EGID’s success lies in the genuine synergy between its different teams, all of which enjoy international recognition. “Our goal is to make the Institute one of the world leaders in diabetes research and in the fight against the disease,” explains Jean-Benoist Duburcq, CNRS regional representative and head of the EGID project. “To succeed, we’ll be pulling out all the stops to attract the best foreign researchers and students, work with renowned private sector partners, and bring together French diabetes clinicians. We’re also committed to high-level training and general public information.” At the end of 2012, the three teams, numbering 137 colleagues in all, will be brought together on one site, on the Lille university campus.

Jean-Philippe Braly

Diabetes There are two types of diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that destroys certain cells in the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas, where insulin is made. The lack of insulin leads to an excessive level of glucose in the blood (hyperglycemia), and to neurological, ocular, and kidney complications. Type 2 diabetes is provoked by a lack of response of the body to insulin, known as insulin resistance, due to both genetic and environmental factors (weight gain, sedentary lifestyle). It also leads to hyperglycemia and associated complications, and usually appears after the age of forty.

The Chicago Diabetes Project and the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System Work Toward a cure for Diabetes

For information on diabetes care at the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences Systems, please contact the Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes, & Metabolism.

The Chicago Diabetes Project is working to make islet cell transplantation a viable treatment option for diabetes. Based in Chicago at the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System, the Chicago Diabetes Project is a collection of scientists, researchers, physicians and surgeons spanning the globe who have a two-fold mission to cure diabetes.
Dr. José Oberholzer, the coordinator and director of cell transplantation at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine is the director of the Chicago Diabetes Project. Dr. Oberholzer and the other Chicago Diabetes Project leaders strongly believe that the scientific community has all the necessary ingredients to make cell-based therapy an option for the majority of diabetic patients.

The Chicago Diabetes Project and the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System have established in record time a first-class human islet isolation and transplantation program.

In the first clinical trial, 10 of 10 patients achieved insulin-independence: AJT UIC Trial

A cure is close.

Islet cell transplantation offers promise of a cell-based, functional cure for diabetes. Transplanted islet cells quickly begin to act as insulin factories, allowing recipients to live insulin free. By placing the islet cells in protective capsules, there is hope that transplant recipients will not need immunosuppressive drugs to prevent rejection. Future research to prove these concepts will pave the way for widespread clinical application of a cell-based cure for diabetes.
 
For more information on the Chicago Diabetes Project, please visit www.chicagodiabetesproject.org. 
For more information on Dr. Obeholzer, how the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System is helping to find a cure for diabetes, or to schedule an appointment, please call: 312.413.3631.

Jan Jensen, Ph.D., the first to hold the Eddie J. Brandon Endowed Chair for Diabetes Research, came to Cleveland Clinic two and a half years ago to work toward the goal of finding a cure for type 1 diabetes.

Dr. Jensen, 42, is certain the disease will be cured in his lifetime. He says there’s been accelerated movement toward that end since 2006, when Japanese physician and stem cell researcher Shinya Yamanaka and his team turned the scientific world on its ear by generating cells believed to be identical to embryonic stem cells.

Embryonic stem cells can differentiate into any type of cell, including – and this is the focus of Dr. Jensen’s work – insulin-producing pancreatic cells.

Dr. Jensen is working on a different track from that of Dr. Yamanaka’s team. The Japanese researchers employed genes to help cells become undifferentiated – for example, reverting an adult skin cell to a state nearly identical to that of an embryonic stem cell. This is new science, but if it can be perfected, there would be an unlimited source of stem cells without the use of human embryos.
Coaxing Cells

Dr. Jensen’s research involves learning how to coax these newly undifferentiated cells to become insulin-producing beta cells, also known as islet cells.

“These beta cells are ‘the Holy Grail,’” says Dr. Jensen, who feels an obligation to help the millions of people who grapple with type 1 diabetes. Islet cell transplantation is not the answer because there are not enough donors, he says. Instead, “We need a universal source of insulin cells. Like going to the supermarket and picking up 2 grams of islet cells.”

That’s not as far-fetched as it may seem. Researchers around the world are working toward a cure for the disease. “I see a replacement cure in place,” he says. “It doesn’t have to be myself. I want to see my contribution somewhere along the trail that led to it.”

Dr. Jensen and five other researchers in his lab at Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute are studying 20 genes to understand how those genes affect the development or differentiation of cells. They’re also studying signaling cells that help lead an undifferentiated cell to develop into one kind of cell over another.

Their aim can be summed up in two words: cell therapy. In the case of type 1 diabetes, the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas no longer produce insulin. “We need to make new cells. We need to provide cells to produce the insulin of those cells that were lost,” Dr. Jensen says. “Type 1 diabetes is screaming for cell therapy.”

Endowed chairs, such as the Eddie J. Brandon Endowed Chair for Diabetes Research, help support activities in the lab and expand research. And they have another, even greater purpose, according to Dr. Jensen. “Chairs give researchers leeway to take chances they couldn’t otherwise take.” Research grants are earmarked for particular activities. “There’s very little room to simply take a big chance, to say, ‘This is exciting. Let’s see what happens.’”

But with endowed funding, “We can say, ‘Let’s try it and see what comes out,’” he says. “It can lead to breakthrough insight that you can’t get with conventional wisdom.”

The counterpart project to Islet Cell Genesis Project is the Encapsulation Project (EP). Given a source of renewable cells or islets, they will need to be protected from the immune system. Currently, this need is managed by a life-long regiment of immunosuppressive drugs.

Encapsulating islets in a polymer bead allows insulin, glucose and other nutrients to pass through while protecting the islets from the body’s immune system. This is a technology currently under development; we strongly believe in the future of islet cell replacement therapy. 

As of February 2011, the CDP is happy to report on a newly accepted publication in the Journal of Surgical Research http://www.journalofsurgicalresearch.com/article/S0022-4804(11)00066-7/abstract. Primarily conducted by Dr. Merigeng Qi, the article entitled, ‘A Recommended Laparoscopic Procedure for Implantation of Microcapsules in the Peritoneal Cavity of Non-human Primates ,’ is a description of a minimally invasive laparoscopic procedure for the implantation of microcapsules into the abdomen of baboons.

An important finding of the paper is the fact that there is no immune reaction or clean and intact capsules up to 4 months after implantation of the PMCG capsule. The exception is one case where it was observed that capsules that came into direct contact with blood resulted in a inflammatory response.  This is an important milestone and bears clinical significance as, according to the authors, “Given the current widespread clinical application of laparoscopy ... this presented laparoscopy technique could be applied in future clinical trials of microencapsulated islet transplantation.”

As of March 2011, the CDP is also happy to report on another newly accepted paper to appear in the journal Acta Biomaterialia http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/702994/description#description. Entitled ‘Alginate Microbeads are Complement-compatible in contrast to Polycation containing Microcapsules Revealed by a Human Whole Blood Animal Model.’

The study is the first of many to understand the immune’s system’s complement activation mechanisms in response biomaterials used in microcapsules that come into direct contact with blood. This new test and understanding will serve as the basis in the new Diasolve Project. Once again, as of March 2011, the CDP is proud to announce that Dr. Igor Lacík Head of the Department of Special Polymers and Biopolymers at the Slovak Academy of Sciences, has received funding support from the Slovak Research and Development Agency.
Dr. Lacík will receive a total of €249,000 ($349,000 USD). The Diasolve Project will be a collaborate effort between the Polymer Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Institute of Experimental Endocrinology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Institute of Experimental Physics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology at Trondheim (NTNU), and the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).

As shown above with baboons in the Journal of Surgical Research publication, microcapsule contamination with blood can cause an inflammatory reaction. As a result, it was believed that studies examining the reaction of capsules with human blood were needed. Especially as capsule performance varies with among different animal models. The result is a new publication where CDP scientists, led by Dr. Ann Mari from NTNU created and tested a new “human whole blood model” that can be used as an inflammatory predictor by measuring complement and leukocyte (white blood cell) stimulation. More importantly, this new whole blood model can serve as a basis to optimize capsules for use in the human body.

Although this data is promising, the road to perfecting encapsulation technology is still long. There are still many factors to consider, especially across different pre-clinical animal models.

These studies were conducted as part of the CDP, and was sponsored by the Washington Square Health Foundation, the Christopher Family Foundation, the Efroymson Fund, the Wirtz Family, the UIC College of Medicine at Chicago, and most importantly, by readers like you.

Where: Wilmette Public Library
1242 Wilmette Avenue
Wilmette, IL
When: September 14, 2010, 7-8 PM
RSVP: E-mail Merle Gleeson at or call 847-338-2634.

José Oberholzer, MD, is Professor of Surgery, Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago the Director of the Islet and Pancreas Transplant Program and the Chief of the Division of Transplantation. He has extensive experience in clinical and experimental islet transplantation, abdominal organ transplantation, as well as advanced hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery. Dr. Oberholzer is also an expert in advanced minimally invasive and robotic surgery of abdominal organs.  He is also the coordinator of the Chicago Project for a functional cure of diabetes, a unique international coalition of interdisciplinary scientists working together.

To date the UIC islet transplant program has performed over 400 human islet isolations for both transplant and research. UIC is a federally funded islet cell resource center and provides islet preparation for researchers around the world. Dr. Oberholzer has successfully completed a phase 1/2 trial with 10 patients investigating the effect of anti-inflammatory treatment in combination with exenatide on islet transplantation outcomes.

UIC started the nation’s first phase 3 licensure trial in islet transplantation and is part of NIH’s clinical islet transplantation consortium.  UIC has a comprehensive islet transplant research program with emphasis on improving clinical outcomes, expanding the available human islets and avoiding long-term immunosuppression.

This Article was translated from a Slovak Academy of Sciences webpage. Article appeared on May 18, 2011. Link to original article appears at end of News Story.

On May 12th, 2011, at a meeting with representatives of the leaders of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS) and the Washington Square Health Foundation (WSHF), Prof. José Oberholzer was awarded by the Ján Jessenius Honorary Plaque.

The meeting at the Presidium of SAS in Bratislava was attended by Vice-Presidents Dr. Albert Breier and Prof. Daniela Ježová, and a representative of the Presidium of SAS, Dr. Ladislav Petruš, and a project leader of the Chicago Diabetes Project (CDP) for Slovakia, Director of the Polymer Institute of SAS Dr. Igor Lacík.

Representatives from the Washington Square Health Foundation (WSHF), President William N. Werner, Executive Director Howard Nochumson, Program Director Catherine Baginski, and representatives from the CDP, project leader Prof. José Oberholzer, Deputy Principal Investigators from Switzerland Prof. David Hunkeler, Prof. Bernie Tuche from Australia, and Prof. Gudmund Skjak-Braek from Norway, informed the representatives of SAS about the CDP project, of which the Polymer Institute of SAS is actively engaged. The goal of the project is to provide continuous control of blood sugar levels for diabetic patients by transplantation of functional insulin-producing pancreatic islets (or islet replacement cells) protected by a polymer microcapsule which will effectively act as their own pancreas.

Laudation on José Oberholzer was presented by Prof. Daniela Ježová. In her speech she also mentioned Professor Oberholzer’s origins in Zurich, Switzerland. He obtained his medical degree from the University of Geneva in Switzerland, as well as the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. Both institutional centers are at the forefront of diabetes research in the world. The fight against diabetes has become one of the main directions of Professor Oberholzer’s career. Furthermore, Prof. Ježová said that Prof. José Oberholzer is known for his deep devotion in all his activities. Those who have had the honor to work with him, and also run marathons with him, play guitar or taste wine with thim, find in Prof. Oberholzer a strong personality with the ability to motivate and move things forward. This allows for a feeling of hopefulness in the collaboration between the Slovak Academy of Sciences with Prof. Oberholzer and within the Chicago Diabetes Project will realize the goal of the CDP - a functional cure fo diabetes.

The prestigious award was presented to Prof. José Oberholzer by Vice-President of SAS Dr. Albert Breier.

The meeting at the Presidium of SAS was part of the project meeting of the Chicago Diabetes Project (http://www.thechicagodiabetesproject.org), which was held in Bratislava, on May 11th-15th, 2011. During these five days, led by Prof. José Oberholzer, University of Illinois (UIC), Chicago, USA and a local organizer Dr. Igor Lacík, Director of the Polymer Institute met in Bratislava, distinguished experts working in the treatment of diabetes from the USA, Europe and Australia presented on the current state of research efforts and discussed future plans.

As shown by the negotiations, the project aims to overcome two major obstacles in pancreatic islet transplantation. The first is to find an “unlimited” source of islet cell replacement cell for transplantation and the second is to protect transplanted islets from destruction by the immune system by their encapsulation in a polymer membrane. The Polymer Institute of SAS was invited to the >Chicago Diabetes Project in 2006 for their expertise concerning the development of polymeric microcapsules and the microencapsulation process.

Currently, as pointed out by Dr. Igor Lacík, within the CDP, SAS Polymer Institute researchers are working to identify material that is not only suitable for the encapsulation of pancreatic islets, but also will be safe for transplantation into humans in terms of minimum stimulation of the immune system in the long-term. The project meeting in Bratislava is significant as it brings honor, esteem, and appreciation to the work of the SAS Polymer Institute encapsulation group. With respect to the long-term cooperation of the Polymer Institute of SAS in this important project and also for the contribution of Prof. José Oberholzer to medical science, the Presidium of SAS, under the recommendation from the President of the SAS Section II (Life, Chemical, Medical, and Environmental Sciences), awarded Prof. Oberholzer the Ján Jessenius Honorary Plaque for merit in medical sciences.

The Chicago Diabetes Project was established in 2005 under the leadership of Prof. José Oberholzer from the University of Illinois at Chicago and supported by a startup grant from the Washington Square Health Foundation. This global project involving institutions from three continents, is aimed to provide functional treatment of diabetes.

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The CDP is proud to announce that Dr. Igor Lacík, Head of the Department of Special Polymers and Biopolymers at the Slovak Academy of Sciences, has received funding support from the Slovak Research and Development Agency. Dr. Lacík will receive a total of €249,000 ($349,000 USD) in order to improve microcapsule technology and collaborate with the Polymer Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Institute of Experimental Endocrinology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Institute of Experimental Physics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology at Trondheim, and the University of Illinois at Chicago.

The purpose of the funding focuses on the Diasolve Project, which deals with the preparation of novel microcapsules with semipermeable properties specifically for the encapsulation of pancreatic islets.  Microcapsules provide an immunoprotection to islets after their transplantation into diabetic patients, which enables them to function and release insulin in a physiological manner according to actual instaneous changes in blood glucose.  Preparation of new microcapsules is based on previous experience and cooperation with project partners.  The subject of this project are polyelectrolyte microcapsules, which are tolerated under in vivo conditions in various animals models.  Recent ex vivo whole blood assays have shown, however, that these microcapsules may stimulate the human immune system.  Therefore, the Diasolve Project will be primarily focused toward improving the biocompatiblity of these microcapsules using modern principles of polymer chemistry by incorporation of functional polymers with proven biocompatibility properties.  The preparation of novel microcapsules will be associated with characterization of polymers, their mutual interactions important for the microcapsule formation, characterization of physico-chemical properties of microcapsules and their testing under in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo conditions.  The Diasolve Project will result in microcapsules suitable for preclinical evaluation with the perspective of their application in clinical transplantation of encapsulated
human pancreatic islets for diabetes treatment.