Around town: World Diabetes Congress 2015
![By Uploaded by Fred the Oyster [<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>], <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AInsulin_path.svg">via Wikimedia Commons</a>” width=”252″ height=”356″></a></p>
<p>The <a href=](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Insulin_path.svg "Insulin undergoes extensive posttranslational modification along the production pathway. Production and secretion are largely independent; prepared insulin is stored awaiting secretion. Both C-peptide and mature insulin are biologically active. Cell components and proteins in this image are not to scale. (Original image created by Isaac Yonemoto using Inkscape. Uploaded to Wikipedia Commons by Fred the Oyster, CC BY-SA 4.0)")
International Diabetes Federation, an umbrella organization that encompasses more than 230 national associations, is holding its annual congress next week in Vancouver. With six program streams, the conference hopes to uphold the federation’s mission to promote diabetes care, prevention and the search for a cure worldwide.
Most of us are aware of the basics behind diabetes, viz. a lack of insulin (Type 1 diabetes) or the body’s failure to correctly utilize the hormone itself (Type 2), leading to unregulated and elevated blood sugar levels. But how many can spot how wonderful it is to hold the congress in Canada?
It’s fitting that the man credited with discovering insulin and its use in controlling Type 1 diabetes is Frederick Banting, a Canadian. And the first person to receive therapeutic insulin? Leonard Thompson—also Canadian.
Welcome home, diabetes researchers!
International Diabetes Federation World Diabetes Congress
Vancouver, BC, November 30–December 4, 2015
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