Word: insulin
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...possible benefits promised by the controversial new work with recombinant DNA (TIME cover, April 18), none has been more widely publicized than the mass production of insulin by re-engineered bacteria. If these tiny insulin factories could indeed be created in the laboratory, they would yield a virtually unlimited supply of the hormone, which is of vital importance to many diabetics. Last week scientists at the University of California in San Francisco reported that they had taken an important first step toward that goal. Using the bold new technology, they not only gave a bacterium potential insulin-making capability...
...work bodes well for the world's millions of diabetics. The insulin for their daily shots is for the most part extracted from cow and pig pancreases obtained from slaughterhouses. But some diabetics develop strong allergic reactions to animal insulin. Both for this reason and because of the increasing demand for the hormone, which the body needs to turn sugar into energy, drug companies seeking alternative sources have pinned some of their hopes on recombinant DNA technology. By inserting the human insulin gene into the DNA of the common intestinal bacterium Escherichia coli, they could, in theory, endow...
...know why there was a change in the ratio of estradiol to testosterone in the heart attack victims, but his work has shown that the hormone imbalance is also related to other abnormalities frequently found in heart patients-higher-than-normal levels of blood cholesterol, fat, sugar and insulin. That finding, he said, appears to be "the elusive link between the mild form of diabetes and heart disease." If the hormonal imbalance is proved to be the root cause of heart disease, Phillips concluded, diet, drugs or other means might be used to change the blood hormone levels in order...
Recombinant DNA research involves manipulating the genes of a bacteria strain to create organisms not naturally found in the organisms--hopefully to make them perform biochemically useful tasks such as the production of insulin or fertilizer...
Those in favor of this recombinant DNA research emphasize its potential benefits including the ability for plants to fix nitrogen, the potential for finding out more about cancer cells and the development of cheaper ways to make insulin. They claim that the review board should recommend that the Cambridge City Council lift its ban on the research enacted this summer and allow the work to be done under federal guidelines released earlier this year...