In celebrating World Diabetes Day, the Banting House in London, Ont., is gearing up for a full day of events, ceremonies, and birthday celebrations on Monday.
“This is probably our biggest day of the year,” said Grant Maltman, curator of Banting House National Historic Site of Canada, on Monday. “We’ll be running an open house from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m., it’s for the public to come by for free and see our exhibits and then the big show is tonight at 6 p.m.”
Banting House, once owned by Sir Fredrick Banting, is also known as the birthplace of insulin. Originally applying for a staff position at Toronto’s Sick Kids Hospital in the early months of 1920, Banting came back to London and opened his private practice in the home at 442 Adelaide St. N.
In the fall of that year, Banting was asked to give a lecture on the pancreas and metabolism. Becoming intrigued by the subject, he wrote down a hypothesis that would “permanently cement him in the minds of people everywhere” as one of the co-discoverers of insulin along with Charles Best, a Canadian-American scientist.
In May 1921, Banting and Best returned to Toronto to pursue their diabetes research. Under the directorship of John Macleod at the University of Toronto, and with the help of James Collip, a biochemist, insulin was purified, making it available for the successful treatment of diabetes.
Two years later, in 1923, Banting and Macleod were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work with insulin.
Maltman highlighted the importance of Banting House not only in London’s history but in diabetes research.
“Banting House is ground zero,” he said. “It was here where Banting came up with his hypothesis that led to the discovery of insulin 10 months later, after only 12 weeks of experiments.
“One hundred and one years later, we have better insulin and what we still don’t have today is anything better than insulin,” Maltman said.
World Diabetes Day, falling on Banting’s birthday, is a “day of commemoration,” said Maltman, adding that the upcoming event will see the annual unveiling of commemorative bricks set to be laid at the landmark from people around the world “so they can write themselves into the story of diabetes.”
“When you can have people come into this house and stand in the room where Banting conceived this idea and learn of his story, it really speaks to the importance of this place and what it means to the broader diabetes community,” Maltman said.
Additionally, the event scheduled near Woodfeild will see an “added bonus” later Monday evening.
“Banting, Best, Collip and Macleod were all inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame last year, and the folks at Canada’s Walk of Fame were kind enough to provide us with the hometown star,” Maltman said Monday. “We’ll be unveiling that at a special ceremony tonight starting at 6 p.m.”
While insulin is marked and noted as an incredibly successful and important treatment for diabetes, Maltman said the search for a cure is not over
“As Banting said, all those years ago, ‘What Canada doesn’t lack is ideas, Our scientists lack funds.’ And that’s what’s been a big push these days is to keep these researchers in the lab working to find that cure.”
For more information about the Banting House and its World Diabetes Day event, visit the Banting House website.