
Let's make insulin
Insulin is a hormone that controls blood glucose levels produced by the beta cells in the pancreas. As a medication, insulin was discovered by Frederick Banting and Charles Best in 1921, for which they were awarded a Nobel Prize in 1923. The insulin production process involves manipulating the biological precursor to insulin and cultivating it inside bacteria.
What insulin equipment do you need?

Cold forming aluminum blister machine for capsules
Aluminum blisters are mainly used for packaging products that are sens...

Lab scale Bioreactor controller
Success with bioprocesses is all about controlling the environmental conditions controls so ...

Automated bubble traps for chromatography
Radial flow chromatography processes require special attention and the right use...

Pre-packed and pre-validated chromatography columns
In chromatography, you must always take into account the apparatus th...

Lab-scale radial chromatography columns for virus validation
In the food industry, as an example, during lab-testing and...

Compact H2O2 disinfection system
Dry fogging provides safe, effective microbiological cleaning of critical areas in biotech,...

Complete bioreactor system
An autoclavable bioreactor establishes special conditions for a variety of applications, for exam...

Single use bioreactor
Single use, micro-bioreactors could be a good solution for replication processes, especially when they ...

Bioprocess control software
Managing a large number of bioprocesses individually without automation is time-consuming, and t...

Optical Dissolved Oxygen Sensors
Sufficient oxygen is critical to the success of processes like cell culture and fermentatio...

Bioreactor software
Comprehensive upstream data acquisition and management are essential in the bioprocessing industry. That’...

24 fully controlled bioreactors in a microtiter format
When undertaking a screening study, process development or optimis...

Autoclavable glass bioreactor
Especially designed for cell culture applications and research applications such as process op...

Mini bioreactors
When a screening study takes place, optimizing media process and working with microbial and cell cultures is ...

Small-scale bioreactor controller
When you are working with small bioreactors, starting from 50 ml volumes, you need a good...

Closed restricted access barrier system
Pharmaceutical production techniques often require isolation of compounds and chemi...

Disposable monolithic columns
Chromatographic monolithic columns for working with large proteins, viruses, VLPs and pDNA req...

Short bed monolithic columns for analytics
Samples taken at various process steps need to be analysed quickly and accurate...

Plasmid process pack for your pDNA purification process
When developing a pDNA purification process for eventual transfer...

Purification screening kit for large biomolecules
To purify a specific large biomolecule, for example IgM or a virus or v...

Disposable tank liners
Manufacturers in the bioprocessing industries are increasingly turning to single use solutions for the...

Autoclavable stainless steel bioreactor
For cell culture and microbial culture applications.

pH Sensor
pH is one of the most important parameters of cell-culture and fermentation processing in the biotech industry. New ...

Photobioreactor for plant growth
SSL (Solid state lamps) plant light has unique and useful characteristics for plant growth ...

Steam-in-place bioreactor systems
Scaling-up from a laboratory scale to pilot plant and small scale production can be simpl...

Acoustic cell retention system
Using high frequency resonant ultrasonic waves to separate cells instead of a physical mesh o...

Scalable bioreactor controller
When you are up-scaling bioprocesses, starting at the lab and going all the way to the pilot ...

Single-use bioreactor CellReady 3L
A single-use bioreactor is quite simply a bioreactor with disposable vessel for culture ...

Single use bioreactor Hyclone
A single-use bioreactor is a bioreactor with a disposable vessel for culture of cells, instead...

Resonance Acoustic Mixer
Utilized when applying low-frequency and high-intensity acoustic energy to agitate microbial cultures.

Single-use pressure sensor
Biopharmaceutical manufacturers are increasingly making use of single disposable equipment to enh...

Automated single use tangential flow filtration system
Tangential Flow Filtration is an essential to the biopharmaceutica...

Single-use conductivity sensor
Biopharmaceutical manufacturers are increasingly making use of single disposable equipment to...

Single-use temperature sensor
Biopharmaceutical manufacturers are increasingly making use of single disposable equipment to ...

Lab scale tangential flow filtration system
Tangential Flow Filtration is an essential to the biopharmaceutical processing...

Dissolved Oxygen sensor
The vast majority of all biotechnological processes are aerobic, where a microorganism or cell respon...

Micro-Flask
During the initial stages of scale-up, researchers often have limited data available with which they must decide o...

Single-use bioreactor Appliflex
A single-use bioreactor is a bioreactor with a disposable bag instead of a culture vessel, c...

Automated cell culture clarification system
Efficient harvest from the bioreactor is essential to any successful cell cult...

Disposable tubing for manifolds in bioprocesses
Manufacturers in the bioprocessing industries are increasingly turning to ...

3D disposable bags for bioprocesses
Manufacturers in the bioprocessing industries are increasingly turning to single-use so...

Disposable manifold bags for bioprocesses
Manufacturers in the bioprocessing industries are increasingly turning to dispos...

Normal flow filtration sets for bioprocesses
Bio-processors require reliable, high quality, easy to maintain, filtration e...

Disposable mixer bags for bioprocesses
Bioprocessors must use ingredients of known high quality and consistency.  Inconsist...

Disposable pillow bags for bioprocesses
Manufacturers in the bioprocessing industries are increasingly turning to single us...

Biocompatible tubing for peristaltic pumps
Sensitive bioprocess applications requires equipment that will not interfere wi...

Y sets tubing for bioprocesses
Manufactueres in the bioprocessing industries are increasingly turning to single use solution...

Semi-automated tangential flow filtration system
Tangential Flow Filtration is an essential to the biopharmaceutical proce...

Semi-automated normal flow filtration system
Normal Flow Filtration is frequently used the biopharmaceutical processing in...

Bag holder and weighing platform for bioprocesses
Single use bags for biopharmaceutical process containment and liquid st...

Lab scale normal flow filtration system
Normal Flow Filtration is frequently used the biopharmaceutical processing industry...

Automated dispensing system for bioprocesses
Biopharmaceutical manufacturers require precisely known liquid quantities for...

Case packer for cartons and bundles
Pack cartons and bundles into RSC (Regular Slotted Case) cases and perform functions li...

Stretch bander
A compact wrapping machine to seal your boxes with a max speed of 50 packs per minute.

Vertical cartoner
A cartoning solution that can be operated in either continuous or intermittent mode depending on the carton...
There is currently no equipment listed with your specified properties, but we are sure we can help you. Try us! Contact us
Tell us about your production challenge
The differences between animal-derived insulin and human insulin
Insulin injections are used for managing blood sugar levels in individuals who can’t naturally produce insulin. For many years insulin was derived from animals, mainly porcine or bovine pancreases, but the production of human insulin became a more popular alternative since its discovery in the 1980s. Manufacturing biosynthetic human insulin via gene technologies is a preferred method for not having to depend on animals as well as the possibility to produce unlimited amounts by multiplying the insulin gene inside bacteria.
Aside from production efficiency, as extracting large amounts from animal tissue is challenging, some issues with animal-derived insulin production are related to the raw animal tissues and diseases such as Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) and Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (TSE) and possible cross-contamination through injections. Furthermore, the chemical differences between human and animal insulin can lead to antibody attacks, inactivation and inflammation.
However, a shortage of animal-sourced insulin in developed countries is a concern for a small number of individuals who experience severe hypoglycemic episodes when using biosynthetic insulin, and generally feel healthier when undergoing an animal-derived insulin treatment.
The steps and technology in recombinant insulin production processes

Recombinant DNA is a technology for the large-scale production of insulin by inserting the human gene which carries codes for the protein insulin into a plasmid of a simple bacteria, most commonly Escherichia coli. Producers then add ligase, an enzyme that acts like glue to help the plasmid stick to the bacterium’s DNA. The bacteria undergo a fermentation process inside a large fermentation tank, where millions of bacteria replicate every 20 minutes. The insulin harvest starts by adding a mixture of lysozyme which digests the outer layer of the cell wall and a detergent mixture which separates the fatty cell wall membrane.

The insulin is separated from the bacterium’s DNA with the help of a cyanogen bromide treatment which splits protein chains at the methionine residues. An oxidizing agent is added and the mixture is placed in a centrifuge to separate cell components. The DNA mixture is purified by using one of the following techniques: ion-exchange column, reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography or a gel filtration chromatography column. Finally, the purified substance is ready for medical use.
The future of insulin patents and treatment delivery
Although the use of insulin pens is practical due to their reusable nature, ability to increase patient compliance and accuracy, there are innovative solutions to enhance the delivery of insulin in the future. An alternative would be oral application, however, scientists are looking for ways to avoid enzymatic degradation upon consumption. Solutions can be found in nanoparticle-based approaches which protect insulin from gastrointestinal conditions and enhance the permeability of the enzyme.
A further option is the bioresponsive insulin delivery system, which accelerates insulin release with increasing glucose levels. Furthermore, manufacturers are working on the production of inhaled insulin devices, with insulin particles small enough to reach the deep lung and pass into the bloodstream. Another aerosol option is buccal insulin, a spray absorbed through the inner cheek wall. Finally, absorbing insulin through the skin with the help of insulin patches is another idea in development.

Transgenic plants as a solution for high demand
The insulin production process and its current manufacturing technologies struggle to keep up with the steadily increasing demand for affordable insulin due to a rising number of patients with diabetes. One of the most effective alternatives is the manufacture of recombinant human insulin from the plant Arabidopsis Thaliana and its oilseeds. Plant-based insulin is easy to produce, cost-effective, free from human pathogens and involves high-quality protein processing.
The oilseeds are genetically engineered with the recombinant protein targeting oil bodies and then processed by separating oil bodies via liquid-liquid phase to reduce chromatography steps in the purification of insulin. Transgenic plants can produce a high level of biologically active proinsulin and it can further be enzymatically treated in vitro which is an economic method for mass production.