On September 10th 2018, Kurt Reis (BA, CTP), the Network for Pancreatic Organ Donors with Diabetes (nPOD), Donor Development and OPO Liaison Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory at the University of Florida, paid a visit to Donor Network West for a talk entitled “the nPOD Project”.
Following a visit to Donor Network West’s new Discovery Laboratory and an introduction by Dr. Ahmad Salehi, Director of Research, Kurt elaborated on the organization of nPOD and the important role that organ procurement organizations play in the progress of current knowledge and finding new therapies for type 1 diabetes.
On July 20th the Donor Network West Research Program presented a poster at the Bay Area Molecular Neuroscience Meeting at the University of California, Berkeley.
Researchers from various disciplines and departments working on molecular neuroscience attended this meeting held at Stanley Hall, Berkeley campus. The researchers were primarily affiliated with UC Berkeley, UCSF, and Stanford and provided the latest results of their research using tissue samples from rodents and humans.
A number of attendees visited the Donor Network West poster and inquired about more information on human tissue procurement at Donor Network West.
Facilitating Drug Discovery and Pathophysiological Studies Using Human Tissues and Metadata
Authors: Ravi Ponnusamy PhD, Phil Brown BS, Nikole Neidlinger MD, FACS, and Ahmad Salehi MD, PhD.
“Advancing Translational Science Through High Quality Human Tissue and Metadata”
Officials from the Chan Zuckerberg Foundation visited Donor Network West. Jonah Cool, Program Manager, Tania Simoncelli, Director of Policy for Science, and Anne Claiborne, Health Policy Lead, were given a tour by Donor Network West’s Dr. Ahmad Salehi, Research Director, of the wet lab facility at Norris Canyon as well as the offices at Bishop Ranch. A presentation was given by Dr. Nikole Neidlinger MD, FACS Chief Medical Officer, on the status of the donation system and policy at Donor Network West which was followed by a discussion on possible ways for a partnership between the two organizations.
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative held a two day workshop that Dr. Nikole Neidlinger and Dr. Ahmad Salehi, along with 38 other industry leaders, attended to discuss ethical and practical challenges of Biobanking.