Dr. Michael Weiss

 

Chairman of the
Department of biochemistry
at case Western Reserve University

 

by Madison Mikel, crew 5

 

 

When you were little did you ever want to do something amazing but as you grew older you never tried? Well Dr. Michael Weiss wanted to do something and when he tried he succeeded. Dr. Michael Weiss was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, and has been interested in science ever since he was little. Throughout his career he has done many things, but perhaps the most significant has been his work in developing heat stable insulin. He has worked a long and hard 25 years on this and is now waiting for it to be FDA approved.

 

This advance in medicine was the result of hard work and dedication.

Dr. Weiss said, “I always wanted to be a scientist from when I was really little.” When he was at Case Western Reserve University as an undergraduate he had a mathematics professor named Dr. Lowhater. He encouraged him to go to Harvard. He had a lot of influence on Dr. Weiss. As it turns out, it’s a good thing he listened to his professor. Harvard University would provide Weiss with both the training and inspiration he would need to create heat stable insulin.

 

While Dr. Weiss was at Harvard he went to Africa. When he was in Africa he saw that most of the villages had no electricity and no refrigerators. Patients with diabetes had to bury their insulin in the dirt to keep it cool. “My idea was to be able to invent heat stable medicines that didn’t require refrigeration that would be stable in Africa and we could do that starting with insulin,” he explained. Dr. Weiss saw the problem and wanted to fix it. Unlike many people, he had the skills and perseverance to be able to solve this problem.

 

Dr. Weiss spent the next 25 years trying to develop heat stable insulin. Insulin is a hormone that regulates the amount of glucose or sugar in the blood. People here don’t have to worry about not being able to put their insulin in the refrigerator because everyone here has one. But in places less fortunate people don’t have refrigerators and can’t keep their insulin cool. That’s why they need heat stable insulin that doesn’t require refrigeration. This took a lot of hard work and dedication as well as the efforts of a large team of researchers. Dr. Weiss and his team had the intelligence and skill to do something no one has ever done before. He and his team put a lot of time into this. He is now trying to get permission from the FDA so people can actually use it.

 

Dr. Weiss is currently working on testing this new form of insulin on volunteers. He wants to make sure it is safe and effective. After testing it on people in the United States and getting FDA approval, Dr. Weiss and his fellow researchers hope to be able to give it to people for free in Sub-Saharan Africa like AIDS medicine is given to people for free. He says that the need for this type of insulin is very real.  Dr. Weiss explained, “There is more and more diabetes in the world, in Cleveland, in the U.S., and all over the world. The WHO predicts that most of the new patients with diabetes will be in the developing world in the next decades.” While they are waiting for FDA approval they are working on ways to make the formula even more effective and safe.

 

The process of making the invention was the hardest part, however. They would learn tons of new things and make tons of new discoveries but there was always something else that was needed or something that was wrong with it. Eventually they figured out the formula for heat stable insulin. He says, “I wish we would have been a little faster, but it’s been more like the tortoise than the hare.” This shows his concern for others and what he really wants to do with his invention.

 

In conclusion, Dr. Weiss has been a big inspiration to others. He has shown us that if you are determined you can go far in life and fulfill your dreams. He also wants people to know that when you see people in need to help the best you can. He says, “The wonderful thing about medicine and inventions and scientific aspects is that in a single career you can combine your interests in science . . . with people and helping people.” Dr. Weiss has done just this. His passion for science has been paired with his concern for helping others. He is a positive example to many people.