insulin necklace

Insulin necklace | sterling silver

Insulin is the peptide hormone that endocrinologists, diabetologists, and biochemists return to across every framework: the structure with two chains and three disulfide bonds, the receptor cascade, the GLUT4 translocation that glucose uptake depends on, the clinical history, the metabolic disease. Every angle of it matters.

The Science Behind Insulin

Insulin is a 51-amino acid peptide hormone synthesised by pancreatic beta cells in response to elevated blood glucose. The A chain (21 residues) and B chain (30 residues) are linked by two interchain disulfide bonds plus one intrachain disulfide in the A chain. It binds the insulin receptor (a receptor tyrosine kinase) and triggers a signalling cascade that increases glucose uptake, promotes glycogen synthesis, and suppresses gluconeogenesis. Frederick Banting and Charles Best isolated it in 1921, first administered it to a human in 1922, and the discovery transformed diabetes from a fatal disease to a manageable condition. Frederick Sanger sequenced it in 1955, making insulin the first protein ever sequenced (Nobel Prize 1958).

The Audience

• endocrinologists and diabetologists who work with it daily
• diabetes researchers and biochemists studying the insulin cascade
• people living with type 1 diabetes and their families
• medical students who recognise insulin's place in the history of medicine

Explore Related Molecules Jewelry

• Insulin necklace | gold vermeil
• Glucose necklace | silver
• Hemoglobin necklace | silver
• Adrenaline necklace | silver