Diabetic creates open source protocol to produce insulin

Anthony is a medical researcher and bio-hacker. He and his team are working on a protocol to extract insulin from genetically engineered yeast cells and produce a generic drug at a cost of around $10 for a month's supply. According to the bio-hacker, the users could eventually be able to produce the drug in their homes.

“The state of the art in diabetes treatment has changed little in decades, something that I personally am frustrated by along with many others living with diabetes. Whether directly or indirectly, we’re hoping our work will improve access to insulin.”

The idea to create insulin stroke the medical researcher after he co-founded, in 2011, Counter Culture Labs, a biohackerspace. In 2015, Anthony met Isaac Yonemoto, who has a background working on insulin, and Arcturus BioCloud, a biotech startup that could provide DNA synthesis services.

A team was starting to be formed and then they launched a crowdfunding campaign to help them conduct their experiments, which started in 2016.

So far the group was able to create, successfully, proinsulin. The next steps will be to cut and fold proinsulin to make insulin.

“Most immediately, we’re aiming to set a milestone in what can be done by biohackers in a modestly funded and equipped lab, and inspire others to take on more ambitious projects and share the knowledge we develop along the way about doing so. I hope in the long run this empowers people working in small-scale settings to not just duplicate what can already be done in big labs and factories, but to actually innovate,” said the project mentor.

Adapted from: https://bit.ly/2KivcXB

More info: http://openinsulin.org