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posted by cmn32480 on Wednesday September 14 2016, @02:41PM   Printer-friendly
from the slow-going dept.

New research has found that venom extracted from a species of marine cone snail could hold the key to developing 'ultra-fast-acting' insulins, leading to more efficient therapies for diabetes management.

Researchers from Australia and the US have successfully determined the three-dimensional structure of a cone snail venom insulin, revealing how these highly efficient natural proteins called Con-Ins G1 can operate faster than human insulin.

The teams also discovered that Con-Ins G1 was able [to] bind to human insulin receptors, signifying the potential for its translation into a human therapeutic.


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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Hyperturtle on Wednesday September 14 2016, @03:41PM

    by Hyperturtle (2824) on Wednesday September 14 2016, @03:41PM (#401845)

    At least they provide some credit to their Aussie counterparts in the article. Here is what I found relating to what I remembered from before:

    http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2015/01/insulin-a-secret-ingredient-in-cone-snail-venom/ [australiangeographic.com.au]

    It has been news for some time that the cone snail was able to put creatures into a diabetic coma or a hypoglycemic shock of some kind depending on the size of what got bit; there was important research back then, too Most of the search engines seem to point to the new release.

    At least it sounds like new treatments are being pursued rather than simply noting the novel approach the snail venom has for turning things into prey.

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