Biotechnology

Diabetic patients may someday reduce their insulin injections and lead more normal lives because of new insights gained through innovative space research in which insulin crystals were grown on the Space Shuttle. Results from a 1994 insulin crystals growth experiment in space are leading to a new understanding of protein insulin. Lack of insulin is the cause of diabetes, a disease that accounts for one-seventh of the nation's health care costs. Champion Deivanaygam, a researcher at the Center for Macromolecular Crystallography at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, assists in this work. Photo credit: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC)