Synthetic crystalline bovine insulin
In 1965, Chinese scientists first synthesized crystalline bovine insulin (Chinese: 人工合成结晶牛胰岛素), which was the first functional crystalline protein being fully synthesized in the world. Research on synthesizing bovine insulin started on 1958. Members in the research group were from the Chemistry Department of Beijing University (Chinese: 北京大学化学系), Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry, CAS (Chinese: 中科院上海生物化学研究所) and Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, CAS (Chinese: 中科院上海有机化学研究所).[1]
Insulin is a protein (peptide) consisting of two chain, A and B. Chain A consists of 21 amino acid residues while chain consists of 30 amino acid residues. The main function of insulin is to regulate the concentrate of sugar in blood. Type 1 diabetes are caused by dysfunction on the synthesis or secretory of insulin while injecting insulin can treat type 1 diabetes.[2]
In 1979, Wang Yinglai, the project's lead scientist, nominated Niu Jingyi, a team member who had made significant contributions, for the Nobel Chemistry Prize, but the nomination was unsuccessful.[3][4]
References
- Zou Chenglu) (2015). "对人工合成结晶牛胰岛素的回忆(Memory on the research of synthesizing bovine insulin)". 生命科学(Chinese Bulletin of Life Science) (in Chinese). 27 (6): 777–779.
- Yeping Sun (2015). "The creation of synthetic crystalline bovine insulin". Protein Cell. 6 (11): 781–783. doi:10.1007/s13238-015-0221-x. PMC 4624679. PMID 26487565.
- "揭秘我国首次申报诺贝尔奖始末(Revealing the First Application to Nobel Prize in China)" (in Chinese). People's Daily. 2005-10-08. Archived from the original on 2014-07-09.
- 李岩(Yan Li) (2016-12-24). "中国人对诺贝尔奖的病态痴迷源自何处? (Why Chinese People are so obsessive on the Nobel Prize?)". Tecent. Archived from the original on 2018-04-21.