The People

The search for a cure for diabetes is worldwide, and includes preeminent scientists and institutions. In 2004, President Bush directed the Diabetes Research Work Group, created by Congress, to develop a comprehensive plan for diabetes research. One of the outgrowths has been the establishment of the NIH (National Institute of Health) Clinical Islet Transplant Consortium. Spring Point Project’s consultant Dr. Bernhard Hering, M.D., is one of only five researchers worldwide appointed to serve on it.

Additionally, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation has funded several research centers around the world, including the Center for Islet Transplantation at the University of Minnesota/University of California, San Francisco. The University of Minnesota is one of the world’s premier organ transplant centers. The first pancreas transplant was performed there in 1966, followed by the first islet transplant in 1974. Its broad basic research and clinical trial capabilities make it ideal for this project.

Spring Point Project’s research and consultant team includes some of the University’s most accomplished scientists, whose cross-disciplinary research experience with both humans and animals, particularly swine, is matchless. And their access to other experts at the University, and around the world, facilitates the pollination of ideas—key to scientific advances.