Hitting the Sweet Spot: Capturing the Pancreas in a Protein

Hitting the Sweet Spot: Capturing the Pancreas in a Protein

Collections: Image Award Winners

2018 Award Winner

Abel B. Cortinas, Kevin B. Daniel, Victor Cruz, Robert Grant, Daniel G. Anderson

Koch Institute at MIT

Certain types of diabetes can be managed through injection of insulin, a protein hormone that regulates how the body processes sugar, but such treatment requires careful dosing and constant monitoring of glucose levels in the blood.

To help relieve these burdens, the Anderson Lab is developing “smart” insulin that can automatically sense changes in blood sugar levels and turn itself on or off to meet the body’s need. This image offers structural insights into the engineered insulins by overlaying crystalized glucose-responsive insulin protein (cubes) with diffraction pattern data (dots) collected from shooting x-rays at the crystals.   

Video

Abel Cortinas shares the story behind his award-winning image. You can also watch his presentation from the exhibit opening on March 8, 2018 here.

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