About Prodo Laboratories

Prodo Laboratories, Inc was founded in Sept 2006 by David Scharp, MD to develop a biotechnology company that provides diabetes research services and products to both the academic and corporate diabetes research communities, as well as persue its own research lines. A building was located in November in the Irvine Spectrum of Irvine, CA, and remodeling begun to convert an office and warehouse facility to an office, research laboratories, and warehouse facility (see Company – Location). This was completed and Prodo Labs began processing its first human pancreas in July 2007 to provide human islets for research to diabetes investigators. Prodo Labs contracts directly with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies needing human islets for their research related to new diabetes drugs and treatments (see Research – Human Islets for Research). Prodo Labs also contracts with Invenio Institute, a not-for-profit diabetes research institute, also founded by Dr. Scharp that contracts with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) to provide the Institute human islets they then distribute to JDRF funded investigators. These contracts continue to provide high quality human islets for research.

In the fall of 2007, Prodo Labs launched its first tissue culture media for research use, PIM(S), that was specifically formulated to provide improved human islet tissue culture survival and function for longer periods of time after isolation. At the same time, it also launched an islet transport medium, PIM(T), that was developed to reduce the toxicity to islets during transport than can occur using whole organ transport media. These two products are available for sale with Specifications Sheets available. In the fall of 2008, Prodo Labs will release new cGMP versions of these two media that can be used in clinical trials (see Products – GMP Products). It also is working on new processing reagents designed to improve the quality and quantity of islets isolated from human pancreases.

In 2008, Prodo Labs began its first research contract with pharmaceutical companies to utilize its primary human islets as test agents for contract testing of human islet function with new diabetes drug candidates. These tests are performed in vitro as well as in vivo. In addition, Prodo Labs is able to test the functionality of newly developed insulin-producing cells against primary islets using a variety of secretagogues and inhibitors of known pathways of islet cell function. These new cell candidates can also be implanted in different sites of normal and diabetic animals with physiologic and pathophysiologic parameters as measured outcomes.

New diabetes research areas are being explored as potential primary research targets in diabetes for Prodo Labs. These require funding beyond what is currently available from Prodo Labs current activities. As these become funded, they will be presented here in more detail (Research – Primary Research).

Prodo Labs also has excellent research associates working together to achieve the Objectives (see Company - Goals & Objectives). The laboratories consist of a larger human islet processing facility with appropriate laminar flow hoods, centrifuges, COBE 2991, tissue culture incubators, and specific pancreas processing equipment; a Quality Control lab for all of the testing and assays; a smaller non-human islet processing facility for rodents, pigs, and Cynomolgus pancreas processing; a microbiology lab; two combined laminar flow clean rooms for reagent and media manufacturing and special tissue culture products; and a water room with glassware washer, dryer, autoclaves, water treatment equipment and an associated room for storing sterile packs and equipment. The laboratory photos shown in this website are from those taken in this Prodo Labs facility with its technical staff.

Updated September 2008