The 14-year-old who got insulin first
In January 1922, 14-year-old Leonard Thompson was close to death from diabetes at Toronto General Hospital. The first extract barely lowered his blood sugar and caused an abscess. A purer batch from James Collip, given 12 days later, worked dramatically.
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University of Toronto, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library: The Discovery of InsulinInsulin helped earn a chemistry Nobel
Frederick Sanger mapped insulin's amino acid chains and established their connections in 1955. His protein-structure research, particularly on insulin, earned the chemistry Nobel in 1958.
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Nobel Prize: Frederick Sanger—FactsThe LDL receptor had a discovery year
In 1973, Michael Brown and Joseph Goldstein discovered a cell-surface receptor that takes up LDL particles. Their work helped explain how cells balance cholesterol production against cholesterol arriving from the blood.
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Nobel Prize: Michael Brown—FactsAdrenaline needed an inside messenger
Studying hormone action, especially adrenaline, helped Earl Sutherland reveal an intracellular relay. Around 1960, he showed that cAMP acts as a second messenger inside cells.
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Nobel Prize: Earl Sutherland—FactsThe pituitary entered the glucose story
Bernardo Houssay found that removing parts of dogs' pituitary glands made them highly sensitive to small insulin doses. The experiments pointed to an anterior pituitary hormone that opposes insulin's effects.
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Nobel Prize: Bernardo Houssay—FactsInsulin's Nobel was shared
The insulin discovery Nobel went to Frederick Banting and John Macleod in 1923. Each received half the prize; Charles Best was not a named laureate.
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Nobel Prize: Physiology or Medicine 1923Glycogen was built in a test tube
Gerty and Carl Cori did more than describe a metabolic cycle. In 1938–1939, their glycogen research identified an enzyme involved in its breakdown and also enabled glycogen production in a test tube.
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Nobel Prize: Gerty Cori—FactsRACGP handbook spans diabetes complications
Type 2 diabetes care extends beyond glycaemia: the RACGP handbook separately addresses cardiovascular risk, neuropathy, eye disease, foot care, kidney disease and glycaemic emergencies.
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RACGP type 2 diabetes handbookA physicist transformed hormone testing
Rosalyn Yalow trained as a nuclear physicist, not a doctor. With physician Solomon Berson, she developed radioimmunoassay to measure tiny amounts of substances such as blood hormones.
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Nobel Prize: Rosalyn Yalow—FactsA thyroid surgeon won the Nobel
Theodor Kocher won the medicine Nobel in 1909 for thyroid research and surgery. His work linked the gland to metabolism and demonstrated safer operating methods using hygiene and minimal blood loss.
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Nobel Prize: Theodor Kocher—FactsTiny hormones needed enormous samples
Brain releasing hormones were so scarce that Andrew Schally and Roger Guillemin used large quantities of animal brains to obtain enough material. Working separately, they established a releasing hormone's structure in 1969.
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Nobel Prize: Andrew Schally—FactsAddison's landmark was illustrated
Thomas Addison's first description of the illness now carrying his name appeared in an illustrated monograph in 1855. It became a landmark in understanding adrenal function.
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Smans LCCJ, Zelissen PMJ. Thomas Addison and the adrenal gland. 2012G proteins were named for their fuel
In 1980, Alfred Gilman identified signal-transfer molecules as proteins that react with GTP: G proteins. The discovery helped explain how a signal received at a cell's surface is relayed inside.
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Nobel Prize: Alfred Gilman—FactsAdrenal chemistry reached arthritis care
Hormones isolated from adrenal cortex tissue became the foundation for cortisone preparations. With work by Kendall and Hench, these reached rheumatoid arthritis treatment in the late 1940s.
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Nobel Prize: Philip Hench—FactsYou're all caught up
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