Web edition: December 14, 2012
Print edition: December 29, 2012; Vol.182 #13 (p. 4)
INSULIN SYNTHESIS SEEN — Synthesis of insulin for the first time may be realized early in 1963…. Dr. Panayotis G. Katsoyannis [of the University of Pittsburgh] is hopeful that the last problems are about to be solved in synthesis of the life-saving protein-hormone important to diabetic patients. Chinese scientists, either in Shanghai or Peking, are believed to be working on the insulin-B chain containing 30 amino acid molecules that when joined with the A chain (containing 21 amino acid molecules) will produce insulin. Spurred by competition, Dr. Katsoyannis is working hard to arrive first at the point of synthesis. Insulin now is obtained from purified material taken from the pancreas glands of slaughtered cattle, sheep and pigs.
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