Insulin Discovered (1922): Medical researcher Frederick Banting and research assistant Charles Best studied the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas of dogs at the University of Toronto. Banting believed that he could find a cure for the "sugar disease" (diabetes) in the pancreas. In 1921, they isolated insulin and successfully tested in on diabetic dogs, lowering the dogs' blood sugar level.
Researcher John Macleod and chemist James Collip then began to help prepare insulin for human use. On January 11, 1922, Leonard Thompson, a 14-year-old boy who was dying of diabetes, was given the first human experimental dose of insulin. The insulin saved his life. In 1923, Banting and Macleod were awarded the Nobel Prize for their work on discovering insulin. What was once a death sentence, people now diagnosed with diabetes can live long lives thanks to the work of these men.
