Trying to produce insulin using recombinant DNA, Walter Gilbert

Interviewee: Walter Gilbert. Walter Gilbert talks about his feelings regarding the insulin project and science in general. (DNAi Location: Manipulation > Production > Players > Walter Gilbert > The highs and lows of science)

In the several years we did, worked on the insulin, there were periods in which there's total discouragement, there's periods in which the other laboratory gets ahead and you learn they're ahead and they publish a paper and you have to decide do I want to continue working on this project or work on other things. We're pursuing a number of lines that don't work out as well as a number of lines that finally do work out. When the final results come in, or when you finally see that you've made a particular breakthrough, it's a period of extremely intense excitement, and that excitement that's really coupled with the moments of discovery is a wonderful pleasure. And one of the reasons that one does science is for that, the excitement, both of discovery and actually more generally the excitement of new ideas.

human insulin,intense excitement,recombinant dna,walter gilbert,highs and lows,dnai,interviewee,discouragement,manipulation,periods,breakthrough,feelings,discovery,pleasure,science

Related Content

15256. Producing rat insulin using recombinant DNA, Walter Gilbert

Walter Gilbert talks about his group's early success with isolating the rat insulin gene and making recombinant rat insulin.

  • ID: 15256
  • Source: DNAi

15255. Producing human insulin using recombinant DNA, Walter Gilbert

Walter Gilbert talks about the reasons for making insulin with recombinant DNA.

  • ID: 15255
  • Source: DNAi

15088. Gilbert's approach to synthesizing insulin, David Goeddel

David Goeddel talks about how another group was trying to make insulin.

  • ID: 15088
  • Source: DNAi

15259. Cloning the human insulin gene, Walter Gilbert

The recombinant DNA moratorium meant Gilbert had to go to England's Porton Down facility to try and isolate human insulin. He only had one chance ...

  • ID: 15259
  • Source: DNAi

15258. Government restrictions on working with recombinant DNA, Walter Gilbert

In the late 1970s, there was a moratorium on recombinant DNA work. Gilbert had to go to England's Porton Down facility to try and isolate human insulin.

  • ID: 15258
  • Source: DNAi

16117. Close but no cigar, Walter Gilbert

Walter Gilbert talks about close but no cigar.

  • ID: 16117
  • Source: DNAi

15927. Isolating DNA to make human insulin

Walter Gilbert's group tried to isolate the human insulin DNA sequence using the rat insulin DNA sequence.

  • ID: 15927
  • Source: DNAi

15505. Synthesizing human insulin using recombinant DNA, 3D animation with no audio

Synthesizing human insulin using recombinant DNA, 3D animation with no audio

  • ID: 15505
  • Source: DNAi

15372. Manic depression and mania, Kay Jamison

Kay Jamison discusses the highs and lows of manic depression, the link between mania and creativity, and the heritability of the disorder.

  • ID: 15372
  • Source: DNAi

15421. Cutting DNA with restriction enzymes, James Watson

James Watson discusses the breakthrough that allowed scientists to cut DNA.

  • ID: 15421
  • Source: DNAi