Celebrating Western's Research History

Sir Frederick Grant Banting (1891–1941) was a Canadian physician and researcher whose groundbreaking work led to the discovery of insulin—a medical breakthrough that transformed diabetes from a fatal diagnosis into a manageable condition. While Banting is most often associated with the University of Toronto, his ties to Western University in London, Ontario played a pivotal role in the genesis of his idea that changed the course of modern diabetes management.

Born in Alliston, Ontario, Banting graduated from the University of Toronto’s medical program in 1916 and served as a medical officer during World War I.  In June 1920, Banting moved to London, Ontario, in part due to his relationship with his former classmate and Western Medical School instructor, Willam P. Tew. Banting purchased a house at 442 Adelaide Street, using the ground floor for his practice and a small room on the second floor as his living quarters. He saw few patients, only three in his first month, from which came about an unrecorded alcohol prescription for “an honest soldier who had friends visiting him and he wanted to give them a drink. I gave him the prescription and consider myself rather highly trained for the barkeeping business.”

To supplement his income Banting took on part-time teaching duties at the Western Medical School as an instructor in the Departments of Surgery and Physiology. Viewed favourably as an instructor by his students, he was invited to the first meeting of the Medical Historical Society, delivering an address, “The Life of Louis Pasteur” to a standing room only audience. He also volunteered as a research assistant to Physiology Professor Frederick R. Miller (1881-1967), who studied cerebellar function in a feline model system. Miller felt Banting’s contributions were significant enough to include him as a co-author in his paper “Observations on Cerebellar Stimulations” (Brain, 1922; 45: 104-112).

It was during his time at Western that Banting’s curiosity about diabetes deepened. In preparation for a lecture on the pancreas, he immersed himself in medical literature, including an article by Moses Barron (1883-1974) that described the role of the pancreatic ducts and the islets of Langerhans (Surg Gynecol Obstet 1920; 31: 437-48). This reading, combined with his teaching responsibilities, sparked inspiration for Banting.

In the early hours of October 31, 1920, Banting awoke suddenly in his London home with a compelling idea. He scribbled a 25-word note in his notebook: “Diabetus (sic) – Ligate pancreatic ducts of dogs. Keep dogs alive till acini degenerate leaving Islets. Try to insolate the internal secretion of these to relieve glycosuria (sic).”  This deceptively simple concept proposed a method to isolate the internal secretion of the pancreas—what would later be known as insulin—by tying off the pancreatic ducts in dogs, allowing the digestive cells (acini) to degenerate while preserving the islets of Langerhans. Banting hypothesized that these islets produced a substance that could regulate blood glucose.

At the time, Western did not have the infrastructure or the scientific expertise to support experimentation to evaluate Banting’s hypothesis. His colleagues, Miller, Tew, and James W. Crane, pointed him to the University of Toronto. Banting had minimal research experience and limited knowledge of diabetes, noting later in his memoir that “I never treated a diabetic patient until after insulin was sorted out...I was never interested and knew nothing of diabetic diets...the idea for insulin was purely theoretical.” Nevertheless, his idea was compelling enough to gain the attention of Professor J.J.R. Macleod (1876-1935), who was a world expert on carbohydrate metabolism. With Macleod’s support and the assistance of medical student Charles Best (1899-1978), Banting began experiments on May 17, 1921, at the University of Toronto. After a summer of promising results, Banting returned to London, Ontario to close his fledging practice and sell his house, leaving London permanently. 

In Toronto, Banting and Best resumed their research with Macleod providing important direction and university resources. Biochemist James Bertram Collip (1892-1965) joined the team in December 1921 to help purify the crude insulin extract for human use. The work of this team led to the successful isolation of insulin and its first therapeutic use on January 23, 1922, producing dramatic improvements in the condition of 13-year-old Leonard Thompson.  A speedy rollout followed with the mass production of insulin, and by 1923, insulin became widely available for therapeutic use across North America and elsewhere.

On October 25, 1923, Banting and Macleod were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Banting, in a gesture of fairness, shared his prize money with Best, while Macleod shared his with Collip. Six days later, on the third anniversary of his idea, Banting returned to London to speak to a joint meeting of the Chamber of Commerce and Canadian Club. An editorial in the London Free Press, on November 13, 1923, proved most telling: “Insulin was, as it were, brought and educated in Toronto. But it was born in London. Dr. Banting himself publicly gives credit to the School of Medicine of the University of Western Ontario in the person of its professor of physiology, Dr. F.R. Miller, for the early nurture and nourishment, the incubation, as one might say, of his idea.”

On February 21, 1941, Major Sir Frederick Banting MC, age 49, died after his plane crashed near Musgrave Harbour, Newfoundland, while enroute to England on a wartime mission.