Appakalai Lab
For TPIAT, the islets are isolated from the removed pancreas and the non-islet tissue via an enzyme digestion by a team of scientists in a Good Manufacturing Process (GMP) clean room. The goal is to maximize the number of healthy islets that can be re-implanted into the patient to prevent diabetes. Download our illustration to learn more about the process.
Leading Islet Cell Research and Clinical Transplantation
Balamurugan Appakalai, PhD
Principal Investigator
Bala.Appakalai@NationwideChildrens.org
As an isletologist for the past 29 years, Balamurugan (Bala) Appakalai, PhD, focused his research career on advancing pancreatic islet cell isolation and transplantation, especially manufacturing and optimizing pancreatic islet cell products to achieve long-term insulin-free status for patients.
He began isolating islets in 1993 and has performed over 1,500 human islet isolations, utilizing them for clinical auto- and allotransplantation and islet biology research initiatives. He has also performed 1,000 large animal islet isolations for xeno-transplantation studies.
Among his many advances in islet cell research and transplantation, Dr. Appakalai’s team developed newer collagenase-protease enzyme blends for improving islet yield, reducing embedded islets, reducing undigested pancreas mass, and obtaining high-quality islets. His team has been working to improve the survival of intra-islet endothelial cells after separation from the native pancreas. Cross-talk between intra-islet endothelial cells and beta cells is important for long-term islet cell survival. His current focus at Nationwide Children’s Hospital is to accelerate the microcirculation to human islets by stimulating the intra-islet endothelial cells.
Recently, his lab was honored with a grant to become an Islet Isolation Center (IIC) within the Integrated Islet Distribution Program (IIDP). His team’s goal is to provide high-quality human islet distribution to the diabetes research community. IIDP is supported by the Special Statutory Funding Program for Type 1 Diabetes Research Administered by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)- National Institutes of Health.
Members of the Appakalai Lab work in the state-of-the-art cGMP facility to isolate islet cells for clinical transplantation.
Lab Highlights
- State-of-the-art cGMP facility for islet isolation for clinical transplantation.
- Research projects focused on utilizing brain-dead donor pancreas, as well as porcine and nonhuman primate xeno- and allotransplantation studies.
- Human islet isolation from a wide variety of disease types, including diabetes (type 1 and 2), pancreatitis and cystic fibrosis.
- Islet quality control assessments utilizing dynamic perifusion assay, oxygen consumption rate, ATP content, viability and bioassay in animal models.
- Research projects related to islet transplantation for diabetes in animal models.
- Imaging studies to better understand islet number and pancreas cellular architecture.
- Collection of intra-islet endothelial cells for beta cells-endothelial cells signaling studies.
Additional News and Resources
- Renowned Pediatric Transplant Surgeon Jaimie Nathan, MD, Named Chief of Pediatric Abdominal Transplant and Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery at Nationwide Children’s Hospital
- Jaimie D. Nathan, MD, Achieves Surgical Milestone: 100th TPIAT Procedure
- Total Pancreatectomy with Islet Autotransplantation (TPIAT)
- How is the TPIAT Procedure Done?
- Meet Our Pancreas Care Team
Lab Staff
Brock Miniard, MS
Senior Research Associate
Brock.Miniard@NationwideChildrens.org
Brock Miniard, MS has over 20 years of experience in molecular biological and immunological techniques in support of clinical and GLP nonclinical studies as well as in a high complexity CLIA clinical diagnostics laboratory. He has his Bachelor of Arts degree in Microbiology and Genetics, and his Master of Science degree in Biological Sciences. As a member of the islet laboratory, he assists in human islet isolation and islet research.
Krishna Kumar Samaga, MS
Islet Program Coordinator
KK.Samaga@NationwideChildrens.org
Krishna Kumar Samaga, MS has extensive experience working in the clinical translation field for over 14 years. As a key member of the islet lab, he performs human islet isolation and islet biology research. His work includes being a vital member of a drug discovery team focused on cancer therapies, stem cell engineering to address autism spectrum disorder and investigating nutraceutical products to address neuroinflammatory diseases. He is passionate and has a keen and inquisitive mind, desiring to know the intricate details even beyond the scope of science, to understand how and why things work.
Ahad Ahmed Kodipad, PhD
Postdoctoral Scientist
AhadAhmed.Kodipad@NationwideChildrens.org
Ahad Ahmed Kodipad, PhD has extensive experience in working with the human pancreas and islets for a variety of research functions. He performs islet isolation, pancreas decellularization, semi-solid islet culture, and ex vivo imaging of the human pancreas. He completed his Bachelor of Pharmacy degree and pursued his Master’s in Medical Biotechnology in Novara, Italy. He was awarded a one-year internship in a molecular diagnostics lab, to learn new skills related to molecular biology and clinical hematology-oncology diagnosis. Due to his continued interests, he completed his doctoral work in the same area where he investigated the effects of key molecular regulators and their phenotypic effects on patients with leukemia and lymphoma.
Chandrashekar Bangalore Revanna, PhD
Research Scientist
Chandrashekar.Revanna@NationwideChildrens.org
Chandrashekar Bangalore Revanna, PhD is a research scientist and has a PhD in molecular biology. He participates in all studies relevant to this application. Dr. Revanna has extensive experience in human islet isolation, intra-islet endothelial cell biology, molecular techniques, and animal experimentation. He will assist during islet cell isolation and will have responsibility for data collection and analysis. He has experience in several facets of clinical islet transplantation, as well as basic research involving islet revascularization, angiogenesis and regenerative medicine. He has published many key manuscripts from work that has determined suitable enzyme blends. Specifically, the combination, concentration, and optimal ratio of collagenases and proteases, which are critical for obtaining optimal islet release from the surrounding acinar tissue.
Join Our Team!
We are committed to training the next generation of scientists as the true future of science and medicine. We are looking for highly motivated postdoctoral researchers to join our team.
