Frederick Banting

Insulin 100: Parks Canada unveils commemorative bronze plaque at U of T

rahul.kalvapalle — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 20:15:21 +0000

Insulin 100: Parks Canada unveils commemorative bronze plaque at U of T

rahul.kalvapalle Fri, 11/12/2021 - 15:15

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Christine Allen, U of T’s associate vice-president and vice-provost, strategic initiatives, and Christine Loth-Brown, vice-president, Indigenous Affairs and Cultural Heritage, Parks Canada, unveil the plaque (Photo by Johnny Guatto)

Rahul Kalvapalle

Topic

City & Culture

Insulin 100

Sinai Health

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Toronto General Hospital

Myhal Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Research & Innovation

One hundred years ago this month, scientists at the ��߲ݴ�ý and its partner hospitals carried out the first studies that demonstrated the ability of insulin to lower blood sugar levels in animals and prevent their death from diabetes.

Three months later, insulin was successfully administered to a person with type 1 diabetes at Toronto General Hospital. His life would become the first of millions around the world to be saved by insulin – one of the landmark medical discoveries of the 20^th century.

On Friday, the historical significance of the discovery was marked by the unveiling of a commemorative bronze plaque at a ceremony hosted by Parks Canada and the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC) at the Myhal Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship on U of T’s St. George campus.

The event was attended by government dignitaries including Sonia Sidhu, member of parliament for Brampton South. The final location of the plaque, which is inscribed by bilingual text, will be determined at a later date.

“The story of insulin is a brilliant example of the power of collaboration – in this case, how a university, its hospital partners and a pharmaceutical company could work together and change the world,” said Christine Allen, U of T’s associate vice-president and vice-provost, strategic initiatives.

“On this illustrious foundation, U of T and its hospital and industry partners built a culture of discovery, innovation and collaboration that has transformed health care and continues to have a ripple effect worldwide.

From left: Patricia Brubaker, Richard Alway, Sonia Sidhu, Christine Allen, Christine Loth-Brown and Lynn Wilson (photo by Johnny Guatto)

The ceremony marked the culmination of Insulin 100, a year-long campaign to mark the centenary of insulin’s discovery and celebrate a legacy of health innovation that continues to be advanced by U of T and its partner hospitals, research institutes and industry partners.

“The Parks Canada plaque not only serves as a fitting reminder of the critical research discoveries made here at U of T – it will also inspire future trainees and researchers whose work will be pivotal in the health research discoveries made over the next hundred years,” Allen said.

Patricia Brubaker, a professor in the departments of physiology and medicine at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and member of the faculty’s Banting & Best Diabetes Centre, described the key areas of diabetes research being investigated by U of T faculty and students today.

“Our interests cover the spectrum of diabetes research, including not only type 1 diabetes, but also type 2 diabetes, which is now reaching epidemic levels, affecting one in six Canadians, as well as gestational diabetes or diabetes during pregnancy,” said Brubaker, who has been conducting diabetes research for four decades.

“We are studying the causes of diabetes through research into obesity, a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes; we are interrogating new approaches to the treatment of diabetes, including stem cell replacement therapy and new pharmacologic treatments; and our researchers are exploring the fundamental mechanisms that underlie the normal regulation of glucose and fat metabolism and how this is disrupted in diabetes, leading to long-term complications such as kidney and cardiovascular disease.”

Brubaker also reflected on the impact of insulin and diabetes research on her own life. As a person living with type 1 diabetes, she noted she is “one of legions who would not be alive today without the discovery of insulin.”

In addition to saving countless lives, the discovery of insulin helped establish U of T, its partner hospitals and Toronto more generally as a vanguard of diabetes research and treatment.

In April, some of the latest developments in the field were discussed at the Insulin100 conference, a two-day virtual symposium that drew over 6,000 attendees from around the world.

Also in April, U of T’s Banting & Best Diabetes Centre and Diabetes Action Canada hosted “100 Years of Insulin – Celebrating its Impact on our Lives,” a public celebration and forum featuring an array of topics of interest to people living with diabetes.

It was at this public celebration that Canada Post unveiled a special stamp to commemorate the discovery of insulin. The stamp, which depicts a vial of insulin resting on an excerpt from Banting’s unpublished memoirs, was unveiled from the Banting House National Historic Site of Canada in London, Ont. – in the very room where Banting first got the idea that eventually led to the discovery of insulin. Brubaker and Scott Heximer, chair of the department of physiology at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and a principal investigator at the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research, worked with Canada Post and Banting House to ensure the stamp’s historical accuracy and help source archival material.

The stamp would be the first of several commemorations to mark the place of insulin in the cultural tapestry of Canada’s heritage.

In May, Historica Canada released a Heritage Minutes segment paying tribute to the discovery. The segment depicts the plight of 13-year-old diabetes patient Leonard Thompson, and the efforts of Banting and Best to formulate and refine the insulin treatment that ultimately saves Thompson’s life. Again, experts from U of T – including science and medicine librarian Alexandra Carter, archivist Natalya Rattan and medical historian Christopher Rutty – were consulted on the project to ensure historical accuracy.

In July, the Royal Canadian Mint issued its own commemoration in the form of a two-dollar coin depicting a monomer (a building block of the insulin molecule), insulin cells, blood cells, glucose and the scientific instruments used in early formulations of insulin.

The importance of insulin was recognized almost immediately after its initial discovery. In 1923, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Frederick Banting and James McLeod, who isolated insulin in U of T’s department of physiology. The prize was shared with physiology and biochemistry student Charles Best and biochemist James Collip.

U of T researchers continue to be recognized for their stellar work in advancing diabetes research.

Brubaker was honoured last year with a Lifetime Achievement Award from Diabetes Canada, a recognition of her longstanding contribution to diabetes research and the Canadian diabetes community. And, earlier this year, Daniel Drucker, professor of medicine in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and a senior investigator at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute at Sinai Health, was awarded a Canada Gairdner International Award for research on glucagon-like peptides that has helped revolutionize treatments for type 2 diabetes – an honour he shared with collaborators at Harvard University and the University of Copenhagen.

'A distinctly Canadian legacy': Frederick Banting helped pioneer aviation medicine during the Second World War

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 11 Nov 2021 14:28:45 +0000

'A distinctly Canadian legacy': Frederick Banting helped pioneer aviation medicine during the Second World War

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 11/11/2021 - 09:28

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Left: Flight deck, ink and pencil on tracing paper, by Hubert Reginald Rogers. Right: Frederick Banting, oil on board, by Tibor Polya.

Jim Oldfield

Topic

Our Community

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Doctor and researcher. Inventor and Nobel laureate. Painter and war hero.

Frederick Banting is widely recognized for achievements in many fields – including, famously, the discovery of insulin with colleagues at the ��߲ݴ�ý and partner hospitals a century ago.

His contributions in the First World War are also well-known – as a physician on the front lines and at the Battle of Canal du Nord, where he was injured by shrapnel yet kept working and ultimately received the Military Cross.

But often overlooked are Banting’s efforts before and during the Second World War on medical aspects of aviation. Planes had reached new levels of altitude and speed, creating harsh conditions for aircrews and health problems such as low oxygen and G-force induced blackout.

Banting used his national influence to restart and grow research on this vital aspect of the war. His efforts helped establish the field of aviation medicine in Canada and built the foundation for advances in Canadian aerospace medicine that continue today.

Frederick Banting in 1941 (��߲ݴ�ý Archives)

“Banting was absolutely instrumental to aviation medicine in Canada,” says Jordan Bimm, a post-doctoral researcher and instructor at the University of Chicago who studies the history of science, technology and medicine with a focus on human aspects of space exploration.

“The field would not have developed without him – at least not in the same way, largely because he was such a powerful medical celebrity. He got things done that others could not.”

In 1938, Banting, as a veteran, saw the threat of war was again real, says Bimm, who completed his undergraduate degree in history at U of T. He was persuaded to focus on aviation research by Maj. A.A. James of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps, who had been arguing for Canada to urgently invest in this field – as Germany had done for years.

Banting in turn lobbied for federal support and his efforts led to creation of the Associate Committee on Aviation Medical Research of the National Research Council in 1939. Banting chaired the committee, which funded aviation research and equipment across the country in universities and military units.

When war came in fall 1939, Canada already had the nucleus of a multi-disciplinary aviation medical research team with equipment available or in construction, according to Chester Stewart, a professor and later dean of medicine at Dalhousie University who had worked with Banting to document the state of medical research and training in Canada.

“Some of this equipment was of totally new design and permitted investigation of problems hitherto almost untouched,” Stewart later wrote for the journal Public Affairs in a seminal article that details the committee’s impact on Canadian aviation research during the war.

A combined cold room and low-pressure chamber at the Canadian military’s No. 1 clinical investigation unit, on the grounds of the former Eglinton Hunt Club on Avenue Road in Toronto, became the first on the continent to replicate conditions for the study of high-altitude illnesses.

A human centrifuge in Toronto

Researchers from U of T used the unit to design the first oxygen mask that did not freeze at low temperatures. Additional work by U of T physicists led to the discovery of dry oxygen that further improved mask design, and an oxygen demand valve that automated oxygen intake based on the individual needs of aircrew.

British and U.S. researchers also used the unit and other Canadian facilities, according to Stewart, who wrote that medical aviation scientists in this country were ahead of their American counterparts in some areas even before the war began, and published prolifically throughout the conflict.

Toronto’s No. 1 unit also became home to the first human centrifuge in any country outside Germany. This large and expensive machine replicated the human effects of gravitational force at high speeds, which included blurred vision and blackouts.

Wilbur Franks, professor in the Banting and Best Department of Medical Research, poses with the Franks Flying Suit – the worlds first G-suit, which allowed Allied fighter pilots to remain conscious when executing sharp turns at high speeds (Jack Marshall Photography/��߲ݴ�ý Archives)

Wilbur Franks, a U of T alumnus and cancer researcher working under Banting, used the centrifuge to develop one of the world’s first anti-gravity suits. The Franks Flying Suit, made of fluid-filled rubber, saw combat action over North Africa as early as 1942 and informed later designs of U.S. aviation and aerospace suits.

More advances came from the work in Toronto and by other Canadian teams, including non-fogging, wide-vision goggles, methods to detect carbon monoxide, better communications equipment and noise-reduction helmets.

Some historians have questioned the value of this output and wondered if Banting’s unparalleled power to direct research funding was always in the best interest of science. But most agree the work was significant, and that it created a lasting interest in aviation medicine in Canada.

“Unlike insulin, the individual discoveries matter less than the slow, incremental story about an influx of attention and focus for a niche field, which has left a distinctly Canadian legacy in aviation and aerospace medicine,” says Bimm. “That’s Banting’s real contribution here.”

The equipment and research teams that Banting helped set up produced advances after the war, though at reduced speed. Canada became the third nation in space in 1962 with the launch of the Alouette-1 satellite, and later made advances on the vestibular system and balance during space flight, and a type of motion sickness called space adaptation syndrome.

David Saint-Jacques on a spacewalk (photo courtesy of CSA and NASA)

A disproportionately large number of Canadian astronauts have come from medical or health-science backgrounds, relative to other countries – another example of aviation medicine’s lasting influence, Bimm says. They include Roberta Bondar, David Williams, Robert Thirsk, David Saint-Jacques and Ken Money.

The military No. 1 unit on Avenue Road evolved and in 1994 moved to Downsview, which remains an important centre for research on technology and human performance through Defence Research and Development Canada.

Joan Saary is an occupational medicine specialist and associate professor in U of T’s department of medicine, who is also a consultant physician and flight surgeon working with the Canadian Forces Environmental Medicine Establishment and the Canadian Space Agency.

She says Canada is uniquely positioned to play a role in aerospace medicine through medical and other technological expertise. She plans to help build that potential with a new fellowship program at U of T, which will offer interdisciplinary and experiential training in aerospace medicine.

“Unlike traditional medical training programs, fellows will participate in unique experiences such as flight school to understand the aviation environment,” says Saary. “We have a cadre of experts in this country who can teach and mentor another generation to solve the health challenges of space travel, which is increasingly a civilian activity.”

Training and research in aerospace medicine often centres on enabling health and safety in extreme environments, and here Canada has an edge due to geography. “Canada is an interesting analogue for space,” says Saary. “In space environments there are issues of distance, delayed communications and an inability to evacuate in harsh, remote conditions, which are similar concerns in the Canadian North.”

Technologies developed to mitigate risk in aerospace environments can also be applied to terrestrial medicine, says Saary, who began her Canadian Forces work with divers. Recent examples include satellite tracking of COVID-19 and other pandemics, clinical use of miniature cameras initially designed for space and cardiac monitors now used in intensive care.

A key goal of the fellowship program is to prepare graduates who can foster knowledge exchange and contribute in academic, military and civilian organizations.

“Canada has quietly changed the world through aviation and aerospace medicine innovations for decades,” Saary says. “I think we can do a lot more of that.”

Royal Canadian Mint commemorates insulin discovery at U of T with two-dollar coin

wangyana — Tue, 13 Jul 2021 19:13:39 +0000

Royal Canadian Mint commemorates insulin discovery at U of T with two-dollar coin

wangyana Tue, 07/13/2021 - 15:13

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(Photo courtesy of the Royal Canadian Mint)

Topic

Research & Innovation

The Royal Canadian Mint has released a new two-dollar coin commemorating the discovery of insulin 100 years ago by scientists at the ��߲ݴ�ý.

The coin features a monomer, a building block of the insulin molecule, as well as red blood cells, glucose, insulin cells and the scientific instruments – vial, mortar and pestle, Erlenmeyer flask – used in the early formulation of insulin.

“The Nobel Prize-winning Canadian discovery of insulin in 1921 is one of the 20^th century’s most celebrated medical discoveries, which has saved millions of lives in Canada and around the world,” Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s deputy prime minister and minister of finance, said in a statement.

Scientists Frederick Banting, Charles Best, J.J.R. Macleod and James Collip worked together to isolate and purify insulin in a U of T laboratory. Isolation of the hormone transformed medical outcomes and dramatically improved the quality of life for diabetes patients, who were previously debilitated by the disease.

U of T is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the discovery this year with a slate of events. The university hosted an Insulin100 Scientific Symposium that brought together the world’s leading diabetes researchers and the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library mounted an online exhibition that highlights its collection of original documents relating to the history of insulin research.

U of T staff and faculty also contributed to the creation of a commemorative stamp and a Heritage Minute paying tribute to the anniversary.

The Royal Canadian Mint has issued two million coins with the insulin design in colour and another million without colour. The coins were designed by Jesse Koreck, an artist from Waterloo, Ont.

“This commemorative circulation coin is a heartfelt and enduring ‘thank you’ to the talented researchers behind a Canadian breakthrough that has saved millions of lives over the last 100 years, and continues to do so today,” Royal Canadian Mint President and CEO Marie Lemay said in a statement.

PBS Newshour commemorates U of T’s Charles Best, of insulin fame

wangyana — Fri, 05 Mar 2021 20:35:24 +0000

PBS Newshour commemorates U of T’s Charles Best, of insulin fame

wangyana Fri, 03/05/2021 - 15:35

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(Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

Topic

Global Lens

Insulin 100

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

The life of ��߲ݴ�ý’s Charles Best, who helped discover insulin, was recently commemorated in a PBS Newshour column in honour of Best’s birthday last month.

The piece recounts the story of how a winning coin toss gave Best the opportunity to work with Ontario surgeon Frederick Banting in a U of T laboratory. Best was only 21 years old and still a student at U of T at the time.

“The entire hot, sticky summer of 1921, Banting and Best toiled in a tiny, smelly laboratory, gathering their data,” PBS Newshour writes.

With the help of two other scientists, ��߲ݴ�ý graduate James Collip and J.J.R. Macleod, a U of T professor of biochemistry, Banting and Best isolated the pancreatic hormone, now known as insulin, that paved the way to lifesaving treatments for diabetes patients around the world, the column says.

It goes on to detail how, in 1922, a 14-year-old boy with end-stage juvenile diabetes became the first human to be treated with – and eventually saved by – insulin. While only Banting and Macleod were awarded the 1923 Nobel Prize in Medicine for the breakthrough, the column notes that Banting and Macleod shared their prize money with Best and Collip.

Insulin became “one of the most successful drugs of the 20th century,” PBS Newshour says.

From heartbreaking letters to triumphant trophies: 12 objects that tell the story of U of T during the Great War

Romi Levine — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 16:27:19 +0000

From heartbreaking letters to triumphant trophies: 12 objects that tell the story of U of T during the Great War

Romi Levine Tue, 11/06/2018 - 11:27

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An illustrated cover of a volume of the Varsity's wartime supplement (image courtesy of U of T Archives)

Topic

Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library

U of T Libraries

University College

Although the battlefields were far away, the First World War left deep scars in Canada, and particularly at the ��߲ݴ�ý. A total of 5,691 students, alumni, faculty and staff are recorded to have enlisted in the armed forces, of whom 608 were killed or died on active service.

Though veterans of the Great War are no longer with us, their legacy lives on 100 years after the armistice through writings, artifacts and influential contributions to their fields of expertise.

Here are the stories behind 12 objects – from heartbreaking letters to triumphant trophies – that paint a picture of how the U of T community experienced the First World War.

All items are housed on the downtown Toronto campus in the U of T archives, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, and at Soldiers’ Tower.

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders Fields first appeared in Punch magazine in 1915 (photo by Romi Levine)

Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae – a U of T medical school alumnus and University College student – penned the now-iconic poem In Flanders Fields while treating wounded soldiers as a medical officer in 1915 during the second Battle of Ypres.

The poem was first published in the popular British magazine Punch that same year, printed on a small corner of a page – and without attribution. Though it took up very little real estate in the magazine, it had a lasting impression on those who read it.

“It resonated with the people of the time. It was part lamenting for the losses but at the same time talking about the good cause,” says U of T Librarian Graham Bradshaw.

According to Bradshaw, many soldiers serving in the First World War wrote literary accounts of their experiences.

“This is the first war where you really get a lot of people who were serving who ended up writing about it,” he says. “You see this huge outpouring of letters and memoirs and poetry and fiction.”

In Flanders Fields gained fame during the First World War and has since become an important part of Remembrance Day ceremonies across the country along with the poppies depicted in the poem in the field among soldiers’ graves.

McCrae didn’t make it out of the war – he died of pneumonia in 1918.

U of T holds many reproductions of In Flanders Fields – including one of 265 copies of an intricately illustrated book of poetry by American printer W.E. Rudge (pictured above left) and an engraving created by a U of T engineering instructor that can now be seen at Soldiers’ Tower (pictured below).

Scars of shrapnel

A letter by Frederick Banting to his mother written with his non-dominant hand due to injury (courtesy of U of T Archives)

Of those who survived the war, a number of veterans went on to accomplish incredible things. Frederick Banting was one of them. Banting joined the army in 1916 after being denied twice due to bad eyesight. He was finally admitted because of a desperate need for doctors overseas and his graduation was fast-tracked.

During the Battle of the Canal Du Nord in 1918, Banting was injured in his right arm by a piece of shrapnel.

“It severed an artery but he continued to be a part of the battle… and actually helped take care of other wounded men,” says Loryl MacDonald, acting associate librarian, rare books and special collections and director of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library. Banting was awarded a Military Cross in 1919 for this heroic act.

The day after he was injured, Banting wrote to his mother, telling her what happened and urging her not to worry. “Everyone is as kind as can be,” Banting wrote. He even drew a diagram of the shrapnel.

Because his dominant arm was injured, he had to write the letter with his left hand – so his handwriting appears shaky and uneven.

After the war, Banting and researcher Charles Best discovered insulin at a U of T lab – earning them a Nobel Prize in Medicine and changing the course of history for those living with diabetes.

Shrapnel ripped through this book while in the pocket of Harold Innis (photo by Romi Levine)

Another notable veteran is Harold Innis – who graduated from McMaster University before the war, and went on to become a U of T professor and famed media and communications theorist.

Innis served in the Canadian army as a signaller – watching and reporting back where artillery shells landed. While doing reconnaissance during Canadian preparations for the assault on Vimy Ridge in 1917, he was hit in the thigh with shrapnel. The wound was bad, but could have been worse, save for the Field Message Book he kept in his pocket.

Farmerettes

Hundreds of women from U of T spent their summer in Ontario farms helping the war effort. “Farmerettes” planted, weeded, and harvested vegetables and fruits to feed troops at home and abroad.

Farm Service Corps Badges (pictured left) were given to these agricultural volunteers. This one in particular was awarded to Marie Peterkin Williamson, a University College student who spent her summer away from U of T picking fruit in the Niagara region.

Special edition

Two volumes of the Varsity Magazine Supplement (courtesy of U of T Archives)

The Students’ Administrative Council, wanting to do its part for troops fighting abroad, published the Varsity Magazine Supplement – special editions of the Varsity that included photographs of enlisted men, poetry, and accounts of wartime activity.

“The students wanted to have a means of recognizing and documenting the students' war efforts,” says MacDonald.

The supplements were sold separately as a means of raising funds, with proceeds donated to Canadian hospitals participating in the war effort.

Wartime memento

One of two German machine guns captured by Thain MacDowell (photo by Romi Levine)

A German machine gun stands in the Memorial Room in Soldiers’ Tower. It was captured during an act of bravery – and luck – by Major Thain MacDowell, U of T’s sole recipient during the First World War of the Victoria Cross, a prestigious award for bravery given out to British Armed Forces and members of Commonwealth countries.

MacDowell, a Victoria College alumnus, earned his cross at Vimy Ridge in 1917.

Approaching an enemy dugout, MacDowell confronted the German troops inside, convincing them there were substantial numbers of Canadian troops waiting above, when in fact, he was there with only two soldiers.

Two German officers and 75 soldiers surrendered and were taken behind Canadian lines – an impressive act that earned MacDowell Britain’s highest military honour. Replicas of his medal and others he received can be found at Soldiers’ Tower.

U of T on the front lines

A battle map of Passchendaele (photo by Romi Levine)

For some veterans, the First World War created bonds that lasted long after the war ended.

The 67^th Battery Canadian Field Artillery of the Canadian Expeditionary Force was a military unit formed in 1916, made up of mostly U of T students and graduates. After the war, the group formed an association, reuniting regularly for social events and keeping in touch with a newsletter called Battery Banter.

A final letter

“All well with me.” The letter was short and sweet – written by Harold Wrong, a University College student who graduated from U of T in 1913.

Wrong was the son of prominent U of T history Professor George Wrong and the grandson of Edward Blake, the second premier of Ontario and a U of T chancellor.

The letter he wrote on June 30, 1916 was addressed to his brother Edward and included a pressed flower. At the time, Harold Wrong was serving as an officer at the Somme in Thiepval, France.

The following day was the first of the British offensive along the Somme and it was deadly.

“Harold was last seen going over and he had a wound in his arm and he wasn't seen again,” says MacDonald.

Wrong is commemorated at the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme.

Painting of historic insulin lab by U of T’s Frederick Banting up for auction

Romi Levine — Thu, 04 Oct 2018 16:36:39 +0000

Painting of historic insulin lab by U of T’s Frederick Banting up for auction

Romi Levine Thu, 10/04/2018 - 12:36

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The Lab (1925) by Frederick Banting will be auctioned off in November (image courtesy of Heffel Fine Art Auction House)

Topic

History was made at a ��߲ݴ�ý lab in 1921 when physician Frederick Banting and researcher Charles Best discovered insulin – transforming the lives of people living with diabetes and earning the scientists the Nobel Prize in Medicine.

Next month, one lucky bidder will be able to take home a piece of that historic moment.

The Lab, a 1925 painting by Banting depicting the lab where insulin was discovered, will be up for auction by Heffel Fine Art Auction House on Nov. 21.

“When you hold this painting, you really feel like you’re holding a piece of history,” Heffel president, David Heffel, told the Canadian Press.

“Foremost, it’s a great painting by one of Canada’s great painters, but also, that great painter was a Nobel Prize-winning medical scientist.”

The auction house will be donating its commission from the sale to U of T’s Banting & Best Diabetes Centre.

Read the Toronto Star article

The Mysterious Miss Archer

lavende4 — Tue, 19 Jul 2016 15:45:40 +0000

The Mysterious Miss Archer

lavende4 Tue, 07/19/2016 - 11:45

Susan Bélanger

Author legacy

Susan Bélanger

Topic

Our Community

Faculty of Medicine

Frederick Banting

"What makes for a really good mystery? It isn’t just an interesting question or sparring with a particularly evil villain. A good mystery is born from the tension that builds as our hero pursues the truth, often against the odds."

So begins "Dial M for Medicine", Dean Trevor Young's introduction to the Summer 2016 issue of the award-winning Faculty of Medicine Magazine, which this issue focuses on medical mysteries. Over the next few weeks, U of T News will reprint some of the stories from that issue. Our second mystery, the Mysterious Miss Archer, is recounted by History of Medicine research coordinator Susan Bélanger.

A few years ago, the Banting Research Foundation received an unusual package from an unknown source: three small paintings, two of them addressed to a Miss Nancy Archer. They bore the signature of F.G. Banting.

The discovery was well timed. Canada’s oldest biomedical research agency, founded in 1925 to commemorate the discovery of insulin and support promising new investigators, was refreshing its mission in preparation for its 90th anniversary. Yet there were many mysteries to resolve before the foundation could claim this prize.

Were the paintings authentic? The evidence was good: style, dates, subjects all fit with Banting’s known works and his painting expeditions with friend and artistic mentor A.Y. Jackson of the Group of Seven. Official verdict: Yes!

Other mysteries remained. Who were the previous owners? Above all, who was Nancy Archer?

The foundation’s new Executive Director Ramona Rea took up the case. Three years of dead ends ensued. Then finally, success! A single reference in the city directory identified Nancy Archer as Banting’s maid in 1931. The famous scientist was well known for giving his artwork away freely as gifts of appreciation. This was where the trail ended in July 2015.

After the mystery was publicized in a front-page Globe and Mail story, a woman in England identified Nancy as her grandfather’s great-aunt. She had sailed to Canada in 1928 along with her mother and younger sister Betty to visit a third sister, Marjorie, then married to a Herbert Brown and living in Winnipeg. The family, including Marjorie’s two sons, returned to the UK during the 1930s. The paintings passed from Nancy, who never married, to Betty. When she died, a distant relative sent the works to the Banting Foundation.

Most details of Nancy’s life remain unknown. Yet according to one tantalizing piece of family history, she went on to spend many years with the London Metropolitan Police, known to crime drama fans worldwide as “The Met.” Women began entering the force during World War I, and full-fledged “Women Police Constables” were introduced in 1923. Perhaps Miss Archer went on to join their ranks.

Frederick Banting

Insulin 100: Parks Canada unveils commemorative bronze plaque at U of T

'A distinctly Canadian legacy': Frederick Banting helped pioneer aviation medicine during the Second World War

Royal Canadian Mint commemorates insulin discovery at U of T with two-dollar coin

Read more about the discovery of insulin at U of T

PBS Newshour commemorates U of T’s Charles Best, of insulin fame

Read more about Charles Best in PBS Newshour

From heartbreaking letters to triumphant trophies: 12 objects that tell the story of U of T during the Great War

In Flanders Fields

Scars of shrapnel

Farmerettes

Special edition

Wartime memento

Read more about Thain MacDowell and Harold Innis in ��߲ݴ�ý Magazine

U of T on the front lines

Read more about the 67^th Battery

A final letter

Painting of historic insulin lab by U of T’s Frederick Banting up for auction

Read the Toronto Star article

The Mysterious Miss Archer

Read the original story in the Faculty of Medicine Magazine

Frederick Banting

Insulin 100: Parks Canada unveils commemorative bronze plaque at U of T

'A distinctly Canadian legacy': Frederick Banting helped pioneer aviation medicine during the Second World War

Royal Canadian Mint commemorates insulin discovery at U of T with two-dollar coin

Read more about the discovery of insulin at U of T

PBS Newshour commemorates U of T’s Charles Best, of insulin fame

Read more about Charles Best in PBS Newshour

From heartbreaking letters to triumphant trophies: 12 objects that tell the story of U of T during the Great War

In Flanders Fields

Scars of shrapnel

Farmerettes

Special edition

Wartime memento

Read more about Thain MacDowell and Harold Innis in ���߲ݴ�ý Magazine

U of T on the front lines

Read more about the 67th Battery

A final letter

Painting of historic insulin lab by U of T’s Frederick Banting up for auction

Read the Toronto Star article

The Mysterious Miss Archer

Read the original story in the Faculty of Medicine Magazine

Read more about Thain MacDowell and Harold Innis in ��߲ݴ�ý Magazine

Read more about the 67^th Battery