dkNET Webinar "The ADI IsletCore and HumanIslets.com: Improving Accessibility, Integration and Usability of Human Research Islet Data"

Join dkNET Webinar on Friday, October 25, 2024, 11 am - 12 pm PT

Presenter: Patrick MacDonald, PhD. Professor, Canada Research Chair in Islet Biology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

Abstract

The Alberta Diabetes Institute (ADI) IsletCore is one of the world's largest centers dedicated to isolating, distributing, and biobanking insulin-producing pancreatic islets from organ donors, exclusively for research. Serving research groups and institutions globally, ADI IsletCore now distributes banked and fresh pancreas, intestine, adipose, lymph nodes and spleen. Leveraging a network of collaborators to collecting islet phenotyping data, the HumanIslets.com Consortium was established to enhance the quality, accessibility, usability, and integration of comprehensive molecular and physiological phenotyping datasets from human islets, which are critical yet limited resources in diabetes research. HumanIslets.com, an open resource, currently includes data on 547 human islet donors, offering researchers access to linked datasets describing molecular omics profiles, islet functions, and donor phenotypes, and enabling statistical, visual, and functional analyses at donor, islet, or single-cell levels while considering potential confounders. This platform, in conjunction with an active biobanking program, provides a growing and adaptable set of resources and tools to support the global diabetes and islet research community.

The top 4 key questions that HumanIslets can answer:

1. Which pancreatic islet transcripts and proteins correlate with organ donor phenotypes such as age, sex, BMI or diabetes status?

2. What are some novel islet cell-type specific gene markers?

3. Does my expression of my gene/protein of interest correlate with any islet functional measures, such as insulin secretion or electrical activity?

4. How can I correct for technical co-variates in islet data analysis?

Dial-in Information: https://uchealth.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEqcumurTsvGNVlP05QqYaEhA37CSrOU7rL

Date/Time: Friday, October 25, 2024, 11 am - 12 pm PT

Upcoming webinars schedule: https://dknet.org/about/webinar