The Larry L. Hillblom Islet Research Center was established with a building grant from the Larry L. Hillblom Foundation and matching funds from UCLA. The Larry L. Hillblom Islet Research Center was formally opened in November 2004. The stated goals of the Larry L. Hillblom Islet Research Center are to bring together a group of leading scientists to work in the center as a team focused on islet research with the overall goal of contributing toward, while providing leadership in, the worldwide efforts that will eventually lead to the prevention and cure of diabetes.
The infrastructure provided by the Larry L. Hillblom Islet Research Center has facilitated meeting these goals of training new research investigators and contributing to an understanding of the mechanisms leading to islet failure in diabetes. In the first 14 years of operation, the Larry L. Hillblom Islet Research Center contributed more than 100 research publications, many of which have been frequently cited.