Dr
Chris Smith talks with Dr David B. Sacks from the US National Institutes of Health about a new form of insulin that switches itself
off before blood glucose levels drop too low. This required a "switch"
to be engineered into the molecule. Hormones are chemical messengers,
but unlike nerves they act over a longer period. Normally insulin, a
hormone made in the pancreas, is released to tell the body's cells to
use glucose. But when glucose levels fall back to normal, insulin
production reduces to compensate. Self-injected insulin can result in
excessive insulin in the blood after blood glucose has fallen
sufficiently, potentially making levels too low.
