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BioTech
Throughout the past decades, human life has witnessed a tremendous revolutionary hit of technological advances, from high speed traveling, the “was-once far-fetched” Internet as well as Malteesers. However, if you are a Type 1 diabetic, you must be a big fan of this particular magical innovation "Insulin Therapy".
Before Insulin therapy, people who had Type 1 Diabetes didn't hang around for long, and there was not much doctors could do for them. In the early 1800s after doctors figured out that the body needs insulin to burn down glucose for energy, they started to try different ways to reactivate production of insulin in Type 1 Diabetics. Unbelievably, they made their patients eat "Fresh Pancreas"! Without any doubt, such experiments failed (and probably left more than a few patients begging for a palate-cleansing sorbet).
Eventually in 1922, Dr. Frederick Banting figured out how to extract insulin from a dog's pancreas. Mainly, he injected that insulin into the keister of a 14-year-old boy, named Leonard Thompson, whose body was so destroyed by diabetes to the extent that he weighed 65 Pounds!!
Although Leonard started to develop abscesses on his bottom and still felt destroyed, his blood glucose level improved a little. Feeling that he got the edge of something, Banting refined the formula of insulin and tried again six weeks later. In that next trial, Leonard's condition improved rapidly, and his blood glucose level dropped down from a destructive 520 mg/dl to a manageable 120 mg/dl. Leonard gained both his weight and strength back but sadly died of Pneumonia at the age of 27.Of course, this huge jump in diabetic therapy was considered miraculous at that time which made Dr. Frederick Banting receive The Nobel prize. Afterwards, commercial production of insulin for treating diabetics began, and for many years forward, companies derived the hormone from the pancreases of slaughtered cows and pigs –which probably didn't need them anymore.Animal Insulin saved millions of lives but it had a problematic side effect problem as it caused allergic reactions to many users. In 1978, a biotechnology company named "Genentech" produced the first synthetically manufactured insulin that can be made in large amounts by using bacteria or yeast as "Miniature factories." Briefly, the gene for human insulin was inserted into bacterial DNA, the result was called recombinant DNA insulin, which replaced the usage of animal insulin which caused allergy.
Insulin Production