James Collip

James Bertram Collip (born November 20, 1892 in Belleville , Ontario ( Canada ), † June 19, 1965 in London) was a Canadian biochemist . He was part of the Toronto research group that isolated the insulin . Collip was the dean of the medical school at the University of Western Ontario , where he was also a member of the Kappa Alpha Society .

Research activity

Training and initial teaching and research work

At the age of 15, he was accepted into Trinity College, University of Toronto , and majored in physiology and biochemistry . In 1916 he received his PhD in biochemistry from the University of Toronto.

In 1915, at the age of 22, Collip accepted a position as a lecturer in Edmonton at the University of Alberta's medical school shortly before completing his doctorate . He stayed there for 13 years, in 1920 he was promoted to professor and head of the department of biochemistry. During this time Collip did research mainly in the field of the chemistry of the blood of vertebrate and invertebrate animals.

Collip took a sabbatical year from April 1921 and went to Toronto supported by a Rockefeller scholarship to work with Professor John JR MacLeod for six months at the Department of Physiology at the University of Toronto. There, his research (on the effect of pH on blood sugar concentration) took him to marine biology stations in Woods Hole , Massachusetts ( Woods Hole Marine Biology Laboratory ), and St. Andrews (New Brunswick) (Huntsman Marine Science Center) before joining Returned to Toronto at the end of the year.

The discovery of insulin

Main article: History of diabetology

MacLeod oversaw the research of Frederick Banting and Charles Best , who began looking for a treatment for diabetes mellitus since May 1921 . In December, when Banting and Best struggled to refine the pancreatic extract , MacLeod released Collip from all other responsibilities to allow him to join the research group. Collip's job was to make insulin in a purer and more usable form than what Banting and Best had done up to that point. Within a month, Collip achieved the goal of producing an extract from the pancreas of sufficient purity for clinical trials.

Successful tests were soon completed and the future of insulin was assured. Banting, Best and Collip subsequently shared the patent for insulin, which they symbolically sold to the University of Toronto for one dollar.

Because of disagreements between Banting and MacLeod, regrettably hostility arose within the team. In 1923, Banting and MacLeod received the Nobel Prize in Medicine. Banting felt that Best had been passed over and shared his stake with him. MacLeod shared his stake with Collip in response. However, it has been largely forgotten that Collip and MacLeod were co-discoverers of insulin.

further activities

After this early success, Collip returned to Edmonton to resume his work at the local university and pursue his own studies in hormone research. He is considered a pioneer in endocrine research. Collip did further pioneering work on the hormone ACTH .

He died at the age of 72.

Honors (selection)

• Member of the Royal Society of Canada , 1925
• Member of the Leopoldina , 1932
• Member of the Royal Society , 1933
• D.Sc., Harvard University , 1936
• Commander of the Order of the British Empire , 1943
• D.Sc., Oxford University , 1946
• Medal of Freedom with Silver Palm (US), 1947
• Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , 1952
• Banting Medal of the American Diabetes Association , 1960
• Honorary Doctorate from the University of Western Ontario, 1964
• Admission to the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame , 1994 (posthumous)

literature

• Michael Bliss: The Discovery of Insulin , McLellan & Stewart 1982.
• ML Barr and R. J Rossiter: James Bertram Collip 1892-1965, Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society , Volume 19, December 1973.