“There was always this idea that if one could design a very rapidly acting insulin analogue, one could get much better control of blood sugar levels in people with diabetes,” says Helena Safavi, PhD, a biologist at University of Copenhangen. “This research has opened an exciting avenue for developing better therapeutics for people with diabetes.” Chris Hill, D. By introducing biochemical features that enable the snail’s insulin to start working quickly, they have created a modified form of human insulin that they hope could give patients with diabetes better, more immediate control over their blood sugar. In the journal Nature Chemical Biology, the scientific team reports on a new insulin whose design is based on venom from the marine snail, Conus kinoshitai. Scroll down or follow the link to watch a video of a cone snail paralyzing a fish. That remarkable phenomenon has inspired scientists at University of Utah Health, Stanford University and University of Copenhagen to make better injectable insulins for patients. With a burst of venom, a fish-hunting cone snail can drop the blood sugar of its prey so precipitously that it quickly becomes paralyzed and defenseless. But for some ocean-dwelling predators, insulin is a weapon. Photo credit: Helena Safavi.įor millions of people with diabetes, insulin is essential medicine. 5:00 PM Cone snails collected from the Solomon Islands.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |