How Insulin Works

Down in Australia they found one of the ways that insulin works...

Australian researchers crack insulin binding mechanism
ABC [Australian Broadcasting Company]
By Simon Lauder

Australian researchers have made a discovery which could spell the end of daily injections for hundreds of thousands of Australians.

About a million Australians have diabetes and many of them rely on regular injections of insulin.

Now scientists have uncovered the exact way the body handles insulin and that could lead to more efficient and much more convenient treatments.

Insulin is what makes the cells of the body take in sugar from the blood. For decades scientists have been trying to work out how that works.

Mike Lawrence and his research team at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research have discovered how molecules of insulin bind to a protein on the cells of the body.
[...]
Professor Lawrence says the research is a key development in piecing together the puzzle of insulin, and will have practical implications in the design of new types of medication.

"This is fundamental piece of research, to look at what has been a long-standing missing piece of information in the background to the design of insulins," he said.

"So the application down the track is that as pharmaceutical companies try to develop new and better insulins that are perhaps easier to administer, or administered less often or easier to store, so particularly in developing countries where there isn't adequate refrigeration.