Insulin - The Crooked Timber

Abstract

Abstract Before the discovery of insulin, a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes was an inevitable death sentence. Little wonder then that when insulin was first used to treat patients in the early 1920s, diabetes specialist Elliott Joslin likened its power to the ‘Vision of Ezekiel’, the Old Testament prophet who is said to have seen a valley of dry bones rise up and be restored to life. Despite its life-saving power, however, little was known about the chemical nature of insulin, with one clinician describing it as being simply ‘thick brown muck’. Just over half a century later, insulin was again causing excitement when it became the first pharmaceutical to be produced using genetic engineering, making biotech company Genentech founders multimillionaires after a spectacular flotation on Wall Street. This book tells the stories of those involved in this act of modern-day alchemy. What emerges are sometimes monstrous egos, toxic career rivalries, and a few unsung heroes, such as the two little-known scientists whose work on wool fibres proved to be crucial not only in unravelling insulin but also in ushering in a revolution in biology. Perhaps most importantly of all, with science having become so prominent in all our lives during the past year, the story of insulin has lessons for us all about what technology can—and perhaps more importantly—cannot do for us.