The Integrated Islet Distribution Program Answers the Call for Improved Human Islet Phenotyping and Reporting of Human Islet Characteristics in Research Articles

摘要

In recent years, the need for enhanced rigor, reproducibility, and transparency in biomedical research has been the topic of much discussion. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) led the way in this conversation with issuance of the NIH guidelines for rigor and reproducibility, which have been mandated for all grant applications since 2016 ( , ). In support of this initiative, a recent review article by Hart and Powers, published in ( ), with an accompanying editorial copublished in and by Poitout et al. ( , ) highlighted the need for improved standardization of human islet data and its reporting in scientific publications. and have initiated a checklist that is now required at the time of manuscript submission. At a minimum, the source and isolation center, a unique identifier number for each human islet preparation, and key demographic/clinical data must be included. Although not mandatory, the editorial encourages the inclusion of additional data, such as the cause of donor death, measurements of islet purity and viability, functional measures, ischemia duration, and culture time.