Students Honour Department's Insulin Discovery with Animated Video

In honour of the discovery of insulin in our department 101 years ago, a team of talented students has written and produced an animated video documenting this vital piece of our history. Congratulations to Drs. Michael Wheeler and Nohjin Kee who initiated the project, Physiology students Elisabeth Grande, Anna Prentice (narrator), Niroshan Kalaiarasan, and Jenny Zhang who collaborated on the script, and Ariadna Villalbí, a graduate of University of Toronto’s Biomedical Communications Department whose beautiful art and animation brought the video to life. 

On July 30th, 1921, Charles Best and Dr. Frederick Banting, under the direction of Dr. John Macleod, had their first success in using insulin (as it came to be known) to lower blood sugar in their test subject. This watershed day of discovery led to further experiments, refinements, and collaborations that resulted in the first ever treatment for type 1 diabetes, saving countless lives. As such, mid-summer will always be a special time of reflection here in the Department of Physiology. 

In celebration of that all-important summer of discovery, we present to you Insulin, A Vial of Hope in celebration of 101 years of insulin, the many discoveries made in our labs since then, and the eureka moments still to come.