Successful Islet Transplantation After Purification in Iodixanol-UWS • IPITA 1999 Sydney • @1MEMO 20260326

Pig islets after isolation in Iodixanol-UWS • 7th IPITA World Congress 1999 • 1MEMO_20260326_1 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles•Media • TakeNode 467e773c-fc4b-416e-99d5-c88df76ddff4 • Presentation by Michel van der Burg (Notes #5).

Shortly after our introduction at the previous IPITA World Congress, September 1997 in Milan (Italy) of the novel Iodixanol -UWS solution for isolation of juvenile pig islets (1), we reported successful xeno-transplantation in diabetic Swiss nude (immunodeficient) mice of adult pig islets isolated with this Iodixanol -UWS method, first Tuesday, Jan 27, 1998 at the 17th Workshop of the AIDSPIT Study Group in Igls, Austria (2a), and next April 1998 at the 10th Congress of the Dutch Transplantation Society (2b). We had started these first pig islet xenotransplants in mice also that same month of September 1997 — highlighted in the image below ( 1MEMO_20260326_12 )


First pig islet xeno transplants in mice • 1MEMO_20260326_12 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles•Media • TakeNode d4cc1f11-c107-4011-8dbe-9649da76e3ff • September 1997, we performed our first two pig islet xenotransplants into diabetic Swiss nude mice. The pig islets were isolated with Iodixanol-UWS from an adult pig pancreas (top panel: sample of the islets stained red with dithizone, fresh after isolation and purification). These pure islets were kept 1 week in a culture solution, before transplantation of the islets by injecting the islets under the kidney capsule in 2 diabetic Swiss nude mice. Both mice had normal blood glucose from the day one after transplantation, and upon removal of the kidneys for examination at 1 month after transplantation , we observed excellent islets under the kidney capsule , as shown in the bottom panel image of a kidney section stained with H&E (note : the inserted portrait of the Swiss nude mouse, actually is our #7 pig islet xenograft, alive and kicking, Dec 1997).

Starting with the September 1997 IPITA meeting in Milan, I was sharing in detail the materials and methods of our purification procedure, face to face and in post-congress correspondence, with my colleagues of the other islets centers, thus facilitating fast implementation by Bernhard Hering and Shinichi Matsumoto of the Iodixanol-UWS purification method in the Minneapolis islet center, contributing to their successful single-donor pig islet allo-transplants, as reported by Shinichi Matsumoto May 1998 at the 24th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, in Chicago (3).

That month, May 1998, I also finished the first series of human islet purifications with the novel Iodixanol-UWS density gradient, while working on human islet isolations in the Miami team at the Diabetes Research Institute (Scientific director Prof. C. Ricordi, MD) of the University of Miami , in Miami, Florida, USA . The successful outcome of the human islet purification work done in Miami was reported from January 1999 in a talk and poster presentations , including a poster presentation at the 7th World Congress of the International Pancreas & Islet Transplant Association, Sydney (Australia) August 1999 (4).

Viability of Fresh vs Cultured Pig Islets for Transplants • 1MEMO_20260326_2


Slideshow presentation by Josephine Rijkelijkhuizen • 7th IPITA World Congress 1999 • Viability of Fresh vs Cultured Pig Islets for Transplants • 1MEMO_20260326_2 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles•Media • TakeNode 7164b724-65bf-4d3f-8a40-89b188957d1b • Notes #6


Handout • PDF (Viability of Fresh vs Cultured Pig Islets for Transplants)
7th IPITA World Congress 1999 • 1MEMO_20260326_3 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles•Media • TakeNode 995e90b3-d797-435c-a510-00a0e35bc424 • Handout presentation by Josephine Rijkelijkhuizen (Notes #6).

In our oral presentations at the 7th World Congress of the International Pancreas & Islet Transplant Association, Sydney (Australia) August 1999, we demonstrated both the complete recovery of pure intact pig islets during isolation in UWS and purification in the novel solution of Iodixanol (Optiprep) in UWS, and the superior viability of these islets following short-term storage in culture solution (‘culture’) , allowing successful xeno transplantation of the pig islets in mice (5,6), rats (7), and monkeys (8) .

The 7th IPITA congress abstracts were published online only at the official website of the IPITA, in Oxford at the time (www.jr2.ox.ac.uk/ipita), and cannot be retrieved now (9). However, I kept an archive with photocopies of our abstracts published in print in the Abstract Book of the 7th IPITA , posted below.

One of our papers was included among the top 10 papers selected for submission of a full paper in a special issue of the journal Cell Transplantation — see below.


Josephine Rijkelijkhuizen at the 7th IPITA World Congress 1999 • 1MEMO_20260326_4 • Photo by Michel van der Burg • Miracles•Media • TakeNode 0c2ef6fb-bdff-4895-9dde-eb242f957cb9

Top 10 Paper

Our study — collaborative research of our Surgery Department (LUMC), and workers of the Biomedical Primate Research Centre in Rijswijk (Netherlands) — presented by our student researcher Josephine Rijkelijkhuizen, showing that cultured pig islets, isolated and purified in Iodixanol-UWS, can be transplanted without hyperacute rejection in cynomolgous monkeys , was selected in the top 10 outstanding studies at the memorable Sidney World Congress of the International Pancreas & Islet Transplant Association (9) , and the full paper included in a special issue of the journal Cell Transplantation (10).

Our studies , together, demonstrated the importance of both donor organ selection (choosing adult organs), selection of non-toxic, endotoxin-free media, such as iodixanol and UWS, as the isolation solutions, and selection of islets that survive storage in culture, for a successful outcome after transplantation in this difficult model of xeno-transplantation, grafting porcine islets in other species.

Notes

1) Innovative Islet Purification in Iodixanol-UWS • IPITA 97 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles.Media • @1MEMO 20250128 • URL michelvanderburg.com/2025/01/28/

2a) Iodixanol-UWS Purification for Porcine Islet Transplantation • AIDSPIT 1998 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles.Media • @1MEMO 20250131 • URL michelvanderburg.com/2025/01/31/

2b) Fresh vs Cultured Pig Islets for Xenografts • NTV Bootcongres 1998 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles.Media • @1MEMO 20250201 • URL michelvanderburg.com/2025/02/01/

3) Matsumoto S, Zhang H J, Gilmore T, van der Burg MPM, Sutherland DER, Hering BJ. Large scale isopycnic islet purification utilizing non-toxic, endotoxin-free media facilitate immediate single-donor pig islet allograft function (Abstract). Transplantation 1998; 66: S30 • 1MEMO_20260326_10 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles.Media • TakeNode a7e8ec21-1757-45f4-90c6-1a5f457e0d9f , View/download PDF below.

Presentation at the 24th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, Chicago (USA) May 1998. 24th ASTS Program book, Abstract #A-120 • 1MEMO_20260326_5 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles.Media • TakeNode 9efdd5cb-f6da-4dec-b9d9-63cf0b254b30

Presentation at the 24th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, Chicago (USA) May 1998. 24th ASTS Program book, Abstract #A-120 • 1MEMO_20260326_5 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles.Media • TakeNode 9efdd5cb-f6da-4dec-b9d9-63cf0b254b30

4) Van der Burg MPM, Ranuncoli A, Molano R, Kirlew T, Ringers J, Bouwman E, Terpstra OT, Ricordi C. New powerful tool for human islet purification: OptiPrep-UWS? 7th World Congress of the International Pancreas & Islet Transplant Association, Sydney (Australia) August 22–25, 1999. Abstract in Programme and Abstract Book, page 169, P298 . In : New Powerful Tool For Human Islet Purification • OptiPrep-UWS ? • IPITA 1999 Sydney • @1MEMO 20260325 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles.Media • URL michelvanderburg.com/2026/03/25/

5) Van der Burg MPM, Rijkelijkhuizen JKRA, Zwaan RP, Bouwman E. Recovery of adult pig islets during isolation using Liberase vs collagenase-P, purification in OptiPrep-UWS, and culture for transplantation in nude mice. 7th World congress of the International Pancreas & Islet Transplant Association, Sydney (Australia) August 22–25, 1999. Programme and Abstract Book, page 164, #281 . 1MEMO_20241203_3 • In : Iodixanol Purification of Porcine Islets • Sydney IPITA 1999 • 1MEMO 20241203 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles.Media • TakeNode 64ace253-d25b-4b6d-af5b-08060712c471 • URL michelvanderburg.com/2024/12/03/


6) Rijkelijkhuizen JKRA, Bouwman E, Van der Burg MPM. Pre-transplant culture markedly improves pig islet graft survival in nude mice. 7th World congress of the International Pancreas & Islet Transplant Association, Sydney (Australia) August 22–25, 1999. Programme and Abstract Book, page 117, #162 . 1MEMO_20260326_6 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles.Media • TakeNode 5ce0c54f-a6a1-4cc9-8f68-9a1cd723badf


7) Rijkelijkhuizen JKRA, Van der Burg MPM, Bouwman E. Longterm survival of porcine islets in the rat. 7th World congress of the International Pancreas & Islet Transplant Association, Sydney (Australia) August 22–25, 1999. Programme and Abstract Book, page 112, #152 . 1MEMO_20260326_7 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles.Media • TakeNode bc9a48ee-23ff-48f1-ab2c-5bcef071ebaa


8) Rijkelijkhuizen JKRA, Bouwman E, Van der Burg MPM, Ringers J, Ossevoort MA, Kuhn EM, Frost P, Jonker M. Successful suppression of the early rejection of pig islets in monkeys. 7th World congress of the International Pancreas & Islet Transplant Association, Sydney (Australia) August 22–25, 1999. Programme and Abstract Book, page 144, #231 . 1MEMO_20260326_8 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles.Media • TakeNode 29bb03b4-8b02-4aa9-9b33-715ca006c28e


1 m e m o 2 0 2 6 0 3 2 6 8

9) Ricordi C. Prime Time for Pancreas and Islet Transplantation at the Turn of the Millennium. Cell Transplant. 2000 Nov;9(6):853-855. doi: 10.1177/096368970000900611. PMID: 28886292. URL https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10.1177/096368970000900611 (Free Full Paper)

10) Rijkelijkhuizen JK, Bouwman E, van der Burg MP, Ringers J, Ossevoort MA, Kuhn EM, Frost P, Jonker M. Successful suppression of the early rejection of pig islets in monkeys. Cell Transplant. 2000 Nov-Dec;9(6):909-12. doi: 10.1177/096368970000900618. PMID: 11202577. URL https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10.1177/096368970000900618 (Free Full Paper) • Collaborative research From Biomedical Primate Research Centre (M.O., E.M.K.,
J.W., K.H., M.J.), Rijswijk, and Leiden University Medical Centre (J.K.R.A.R., J.R., M.vdB., E.B.), Leiden, The Netherlands .


Sydney Convention Center • 1MEMO_20260326_9 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles.Media • TakeNode 1ce6bbf2-adf1-4ce3-8c69-cd2d1339be81 • Sydney Convention Center – Darling Harbour (demolished in 2013)


Cultured pig islets for xenotransplantation • 1MEMO_20260326_11 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles•Media • TakeNode bd15f087-29cd-4e99-a555-9fbfbd1729bc • Reflection contrast microscopy (ultrathin section) of 1-week cultured pig islets . During storage in culture remodeling of the isolated islets occurs, showing rounded islets , with some central necrosis after prolonged culture. Transplantation of 1250 islets (IEQs) from this same 1-week cultured pig islet preparation cured all (n=3) diabetic nude mice indefinitely (over 150 days). In contrast transplants of freshly isolated islets (not cultured) using the same dose of 1250 islets (IEQs) from this same islet preparation, did not cure diabetic nude mice (n=2). Adult pig pancreas procurement by Michel van der Burg from the nearby Westgeest slaughterhouse (in Zoetermeer) facility for large sows processing by Ballering Export (Son, Netherlands; a company of second cousins, of mine).
. Islet isolation (using Iodixanol-UWS) and transplants team work by Josephine Rijkelijkhuizen and Michel van der Burg, Leiden Islet Laboratory (LUMC), May 1998. Reflection contrast microscopy by Frans A. Prins and Michel van der Burg. Not previously published data and photo by Michel van der Burg.

#IPITA #Sydney #surgery #DRI #Miami #clinical #laboratory #purification #optiprep #iodixanol #density #gradient #UWS #pancreas #human #pig #rat #mouse #monkey #xeno #islets #islet #Langerhans #isolation #UW #university #Wisconsin #transplantation #diabetes #man #history #Holland #Netherlands #Leiden #hospital #LUMC #1memo #michelvanderburg #Rijkelijkhuizen #Matsumoto #Hering #Minneapolis #Ricordi

Citation info : Successful Islet Transplantation After Purification in Iodixanol-UWS • IPITA 1999 Sydney • @1MEMO 20260326 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles.Media • URL michelvanderburg.com/2026/03/26/

New Powerful Tool For Human Islet Purification • OptiPrep-UWS ? • IPITA 1999 Sydney • @1MEMO 20260325

7th IPITA World Congress 1999 • 1MEMO_20260325_1 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles•Media • TakeNode 770715b8-ca68-4c00-8a24-24fe0d216c10

Poster presentation (#P298) Michel van der Burg, 7th World Congress of the International Pancreas & Islet Transplant Association, Sydney (Australia) August 22–25, 1999 (1).

Outcome of the first series of human islet purifications with the novel Iodixanol -UWS density gradient — developed originally in the difficult model of pig islet isolation in our Leiden Islet Laboratory of the LUMC (2) — and, performed in 1998 during my working visit at the “fast track” center of the Diabetes Research Institute (Scientific director Prof. C. Ricordi, MD) of the University of Miami , in Miami, Florida, USA .

Notes

1) Van der Burg MPM, Ranuncoli A, Molano R, Kirlew T, Ringers J, Bouwman E, Terpstra OT, Ricordi C. New powerful tool for human islet purification: OptiPrep-UWS? 7th World Congress of the International Pancreas & Islet Transplant Association, Sydney (Australia) August 22–25, 1999. Abstract in Programme and Abstract Book, page 169, P298 .

Abstracts of previous IPITA meetings had been published in print in scientific journals (2), however, at the turn of the millennium in 1999, with the rise of the internet , the 7th IPITA congress abstracts were published online only at the official website of the IPITA, in Oxford at the time (www.jr2.ox.ac.uk/ipita), and cannot be retrieved now (3).
I kept an archive with photocopies of our abstracts published in print in the Abstract Book of the 7th IPITA. Below that abstract of poster presentation P298 at page 169 in the Programme and Abstract Book.


7th IPITA World Congress 1999 • 1MEMO_20260325_2 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles•Media • TakeNode 9a8affeb-120a-4484-a390-fe058ac64af4

A previous poster on this human islet work had been presented at the 4th International congress of the Cell Transplant Society, Montreux (Switzerland) March 21–24, 1999. See:
Optiprep For Human Islet Purification • Cell Transplant Society 1999 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles.Media • @1MEMO 20250203 • URL michelvanderburg.com/2025/02/03/

A previous talk on this human islet work had been presented Monday, 25 January 1999, at the 18th Workshop of the AIDSPIT Study Group in Igls , Austria. See :
Efficacy of the novel iodixanol-UWS density gradient for human islet purification • Igls Aidspit 1999 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles.Media • 20241202 • URL michelvanderburg.com/2024/12/02/

2) Innovative Islet Purification in Iodixanol-UWS • IPITA 97 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles.Media • @1MEMO 20250128 • TakeNode • URL michelvanderburg.com/2025/01/28/

3) Ricordi C. Prime Time for Pancreas and Islet Transplantation at the Turn of the Millennium. Cell Transplant. 2000 Nov;9(6):853-855. doi: 10.1177/096368970000900611. PMID: 28886292. URL https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10.1177/096368970000900611

#IPITA #Sydney #surgery #DRI #Miami #clinical #laboratory #purification #optiprep #iodixanol #density #gradient #UWS #pancreas #human #pig #rat #mouse #monkey #xeno #islets #islet #Langerhans #isolation #UW #university #Wisconsin #transplantation #diabetes #man #history #Holland #Netherlands #Leiden #hospital #LUMC #1memo #michelvanderburg

Citation info : New Powerful Tool For Human Islet Purification • OptiPrep-UWS ? • IPITA 1999 Sydney • @1MEMO 20260325 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles.Media • URL michelvanderburg.com/2026/03/25/

Clinical Islet Transplantation 13th AIDSPIT • @1MEMO 20251113


Seminar on lessons from clinical islet transplantation

Chairman K. Federlin (Giessen, Germany) opened the seminar Tuesday, January 25, 1994 and David Scharp began with his lesson from the Center in St. Louis (USA) at the 13th Workshop of the AIDSPIT * Study Group , Igls, Austria, January 23–25, 1994.

Notes


Video image: Iodixanol-UWS purified human islets, stained with dithizone (March 18, 1999) • Michel van der Burg , Leiden Islet Laboratory LUMC .

Second, remastered, edition created from the 1st video edition published 20170208 via Vimeo at 1-memo.com .

* AIDSPIT later known as AIDPIT.

Recorded with Olympus mini-tape dictaphone, and re-recorded from the speaker of the dictaphone.

My presentations at the event

Cell preservation in University of Wisconsin solution during isolation of canine islets of Langerhans. Van der Burg M.P.M., Guicherit O.R., Frölich M., Gooszen H.G. (Leiden, The Netherlands) . Horm metab Res 1994; 26: 63. (Abstract). File 1MEMO_20251113_2

Metabolic control after canine islet transplantation. Van der Burg M.P.M., Guicherit O.R., van Suylichem P.T.R., Frölich M., van Deijnen J.H.M. , Gooszen H.G. (Leiden, The Netherlands; Groningen, The Netherlands). Horm metab Res 1994; 26: 63. (Abstract). File 1MEMO_20251113_2

View/Download file 1MEMO_20251113_2

Citation info : Clinical Islet Transplantation 13th AIDSPIT • Michel van der Burg • Miracles.Media • @1MEMO 20251113 • TakeNode 24209f1e-67d5-4540-9115-89efcc6090c9 • URL https://michelvanderburg.com/2025/11/13/clinical-islet-transplantation-13th-aidspit-1memo-20251113/

Iodixanol-UWS Human Islet Purification 1998 Abstract • @1MEMO 20251102

Front page Acta Diabetologica • Download Abstract Below

Abstract published in Acta Diabetologica 1998 of Iodixanol-UWS Human Islet Purification in 1998 at the Diabetes Research Institute in Miami. Abstracts book of the 18th Workshop of the AIDSPIT Study Group in Igls, Austria, Jan 1999.

Van der Burg MPM, Ranuncoli A, Molano R, Kirlew T, Ringers J, Bouwman E, Ricordi C. Efficacy of the novel iodixanol-UWS density gradient for human islet purification (Abstract). Acta Diabetol 1998; 35: 247.
View / Download abstract (file 1MEMO_20251102_1.pdf) below .

Notes

Abstract added in full post :
Efficacy of the novel iodixanol-UWS density gradient for human islet purification • Igls Aidspit 1999 • 20241202 • URL michelvanderburg.com/2024/12/02

Citation info : Iodixanol-UWS Human Islet Purification 1998 Abstract • Michel van der Burg • Miracles.Media • @1MEMO 20251102 • URL michelvanderburg.com/2025/11/02/

Islet Transplantation LUMC News Surprise • @1MEMO 20251020

Diabetic (dutch ‘Suikerzieke) … Parool, 6 Jan 1990 • @1MEMO 20251020

Big surprise today , to encounter this nice news article by journalist Rob van Dijk reporting on our pancreatic islet transplantation breakthrough in the Leiden University Hospital (now LUMC) in the Amsterdam based Dutch national newspaper Parool , Saturday 6 January 1990 (1).

I was searching actually for a better copy of a different news article I have archived on my clinical islet transplantation work (Newspaper Volkskrant 10 April 1999) in the Delpher archive of the National Library of the Netherlands , scrolling the search results, and noticed this Parool article – I didn’t know it existed 😉

Journalist Rob van Dijk did not interview me for the Parool, so I assume his source was the interview I gave for publication in Cicero, the biweekly LUMC publication, and the Dutch newspaper ‘Leidsch Dagblad’, and posted a year ago (2).

The articles reports (my translation from dutch*) :

Transplantation

Islet transplantation has been possible for a few years now, but it doesn’t (yet?) work in humans. The technique itself isn’t that complicated: as many islets of Langerhans as possible are extracted from a pancreas, injected into the diabetic patient’s liver or spleen, and thus, start producing insulin. However, that “thus” is still a bit tricky… …
The major problems lie in the fact that the yield of properly functioning islets is too small (at least 30 percent of the islets must be obtained undamaged to achieve sufficient insulin production after a transplant) and that the suspensions are too impure. Nevertheless, progress is being made.
The best news comes from Leiden University Hospital. There, biologist M. van der Burg, MSc has developed a method to isolate a very high and pure yield of islets from a dog’s pancreas. Van der Burg succeeded in isolating 40 percent of the vital islets from a dog’s pancreas. Through special processing, he was able to completely purify these cell clumps of 90 percent of excess and complicating pancreatic tissue. These islets were injected into the spleen of the same dog, where they produced sufficient insulin. This initial experiment has since been repeated in Leiden with several dogs with the same success. However, major challenges remain, not the least of which is the rejection problem. The Leiden experiments used the dog’s own tissue. The big question remains how the human immune system reacts when islets from a donor are injected.

*NL (dutch) quote :

Transplantatie

Sinds een paar jaar is eilandjestransplantatie wel mogelijk, alleen, bij de mens werkt het (nog?) niet. De techniek is op zichzelf niet zo ingewikkeld: men haalt zoveel mogelijk eilandjes van Langerhans uit een pancreas, spuit die bij de suikerzieke in lever of milt in en dan gaan ze dus insuline maken. Met dat ‘dus’ ligt het echter nog moeilijk… …
De grote problemen schuilen hem erin dat de oogst aan goed werkende eilandjes te gering is (men moet ten minste 30 procent van de eilandjes onbeschadigd te pakken krijgen om na een transplantatie voldoende insulineproduktie te verkrijgen) en dat de suspensies te onzuiver zijn. Toch zit er schot in.
Het beste nieuws komt uit het academisch ziekenhuis te Leiden. Daar heeft de bioloog drs. M. van der Burg een methode ontwikkeld om uit een hondepancreas een zeer hoge en zuivere oogst aan eilandjes te isoleren. Van der Burg slaagde erin uit de alvleesklier van een hond 40 procent van de vitale eilandjes te isoleren, door een speciale bewerking kon hij deze celklompjes voor 90 procent absoluut zuiveren van overbodig en complicerend pancreasweefsel. Deze eilandjes werden ingespoten in de milt van dezelfde hond en produceren daar voldoende insuline. Dit eerste experiment is in Leiden intussen met meerdere honden met hetzelfde succes herhaald. Maar er zijn nog grote problemen op te lossen en bepaald niet het geringste daarvan is dat van de afstoting. Bij de Leidse experimenten werd gebruik gemaakt van eigen weefsel van de hond. De grote vraag blijft hoe het immuunsysteem van de mens reageert als er eilandjes van een donor worden ingespoten.

Notes

1) Transplantatie. “Het Parool”. Amsterdam, 06-01-1990. Retrieved in Delpher on 20-10-2025, https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ABCDDD:010834140:mpeg21:p017

2) Islet Transplantation Breakthrough in Leiden University Hospital • 20240830 • Michel van der Burg • michelvanderburg•com • URL https://michelvanderburg.com/2024/08/30/islet-transplantation-breakthrough-in-leiden-university-hospital-20240830/

Citation info : Islet Transplantation LUMC News Surprise • Michel van der Burg • Miracles.Media • @1MEMO 20251020 • URL michelvanderburg.com/2025/10/20/

Human Islet Isolation • DRI Miami 1998 • @1MEMO 20250204

Summer 1997, Onno Terpstra, the head of our Surgery Department, asked me to explore our options for starting clinical islet isolation and transplantation in our center – the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), and prepare a roadmap.

September 1997, at the IPITA congress in Milan (1) , I learned from Camillo Ricordi, the scientific director of the Diabetes Research Institute (DRI) in Miami – where many guest collaborators work – that visiting the DRI some weeks might be a good option to gain sufficient first work experience in his clinical islet transplantation group.

December 1997, with a ‘Roadmap’, I got the green light to start the operationalization of clinical islet transplantation in the LUMC, first with a working visit to Miami to study the state of the art ‘Ricordi’ method of human islet isolation, and then start the human islet isolation work in our Surgery lab in Leiden.

In 1990 I had already gained some initial research experience in our Leiden Islet Laboratory with a small number of isolations of islets from human donor organs, using our innovative method of density gradient purification based on the UW solution (2).

During the first three months of 1998 I worked intensively with my student colleague Josephine Rijkelijkhuizen so that she would be able to continue our xenotransplantation research project as independently as possible in our Surgery research team.

April 1998, after participating in the 1st Workshop on Clinical Islet Transplantation in New Orleans (3) – the ideal introduction – a fruitful working visit to the DRI in Miami followed (4,5), with intensive collaboration with the DRI team on, among other things, six human islet isolations, and also the simultaneously (parallel) conducted research into the purification of the human islets in our Iodixanol gradient in UW-Solution (6).

Here a slideshow illustrating this team up with the DRI team in Miami , working on human islet isolation and purification in the innovative Iodixanol-UWS gradient, April-May 1998.

Notes

1) Innovative Islet Purification in Iodixanol-UWS • IPITA 97 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles.Media • @1MEMO 20250128 • TakeNode • URL michelvanderburg.com/2025/01/28/

2) Percoll UWS Purification Pancreatic Islets • ESOT 1991 Talk • Michel van der Burg • Miracles.Media • @1MEMO 20250114 • URL michelvanderburg.com/2025/01/14/

3) Invited participant 1st Workshop on Clinical Islet Transplantation, New Orleans (LA, USA) April 17–19, 1998

4) Working visit April – May 1998 at the “fast track” center of the Diabetes Research Institute (Scientific director Prof. C. Ricordi, MD) of the University of Miami (Miami, FL, USA)

5) DRI Dream Team • Michel van der Burg • Miracles.Media • @1MEMO 20250105 • URL michelvanderburg.com/2025/01/05/

6) Human Islet Purification Miami 1998 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles.Media • 20181102 • URL michelvanderburg.com/2018/11/02/

Citation info : Human Islet Isolation • DRI Miami 1998 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles.Media • @1MEMO 20250204 • TakeNode 86e4a319-a769-44d5-8fa5-de2ca90ab63c • URL michelvanderburg.com/2025/02/04/

Optiprep For Human Islet Purification • Cell Transplant Society 1999 • @1MEMO 20250203

Optiprep For Human Islet Purification • Cell Transplant Society 1999 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles.Media • @1MEMO 20250203 • TakeNode bad757b8-674c-4371-938c-ac73287bc457

Poster (#57) presentation Michel van der Burg, Cell Transplant Society congress 1999 in Montreux, Switzerland (1,2)

Outcome of the first series of human islet purifications with the novel Iodixanol -UWS density gradient — developed in the Leiden Islet Laboratory of the LUMC — performed during my working visit April – May 1998 at the “fast track” center of the Diabetes Research Institute (Scientific director Prof. C. Ricordi, MD) of the University of Miami (Miami, FL, USA).

Notes

1) Van der Burg MPM, Ranuncoli A, Molano R, Kirlew T, Ringers J, Bouwman E, Terpstra OT, Ricordi C. Optiprep for human islet purification. 4th International congress of the Cell Transplant Society, Montreux (Switzerland) March 21–24, 1999 .

2) Van der Burg MPM, Ranuncoli A, Molano R, Kirlew T, Ringers J, Bouwman E, Terpstra OT, Ricordi C. Optiprep for human islet purification (Abstract). Cell Transplant 1999; 8: 184. Download abstract below 1MEMO_20250202_3

Citation info : Optiprep For Human Islet Purification • Cell Transplant Society 1999 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles.Media • @1MEMO 20250203 • URL michelvanderburg.com/2025/02/03/