Since 2021 marks the centenary of the isolation of insulin, I wanted to finally share some photos I took visiting @BantingHouse in London, ON.

It was in this small medical practice, 100 years ago, that Dr. Frederick Banting successfully isolated insulin from canine islet cells.

Banting's work space has been preserved as it was in the 1920s. If I recall correctly, it was in this room where he discovered that ligating the pancreatic ducts of dogs enabled isolation of insulin-producing islet (beta) cells.

Prior to the isolation and, eventually, manufacture of insulin, prominent physicians like Elliott Joslin and Frederick Allen promoted starvation diets for T1D.

It was not uncommon for diabetics to starve themselves to death in the pre-insulin era.

Banting and his collaborators worked with @LillyPad to produce purified insulin at scale. Here you can see some early stocks of Iletin®, the first commercially-available insulin product, which Lilly began selling in 1923.

Quacks seeking capitalize on the discovery defrauded consumers with sound-alike products that contained no actual insulin.

Some things never change.

The Insurol Company of America (maker of Insoloid) would later be investigated by the Post Office and FDA and charged with fraud in 1931.

Prior to going out of business Insurol's president put out this self-pitying notice/advertisement:

One of the most inspirational sights during the visit was a map of the world studded with pins showing where diabetics who had made the pilgrimage to Banting House traveled from.

Blue pins denote T1Ds, red T2Ds, and white are non-diabetics (if I recall correctly).

Outside of the museum, a beautiful statue of Banting stands. At 32, Banting became the youngest Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine, sharing the prize with John James Rickard Macleod. In 1934, he was knighted by King George V.

Outside, various stones are inscribed with dedications and messages. It was a surprisingly emotional and overwhelming experience reading them—this one especially.