It seems the real saving grace of 2020 are scientists. Just as Pfizer and Moderna have announced their monumental achievements of creating a Covid-19 vaccine that are both within 90% effective, a group of Canadian scientists accomplished the once-impossible with a potential diabetes cure. After successfully eradicating the disease from trial mice, the desired final step is to have diabetes, which affects 422 million people globally, be a thing of the distant past. 

All credit is owed to the University of Alberta, a public research institute that is renowned for its prowess in science and engineering. The reputation is not without ground, as scientists from the school were able to use a stem-cell application that produced insulin out of blood cells. “We’ve been taking blood samples from patients with diabetes, winding those cells from the blood back in time so that they can be changed, and then we’re moving them forward in time so that we can turn them into the cells we want,” Dr. James Shapiro, one of the leading figures in crafting the treatment, tells CTV. 

While the future is hopeful, Dr. James Shapiro is sure to state that further research is needed before anything can proceed. “There needs to be preliminary data and ideally a handful of patients that would demonstrate to the world that is possible and that it’s safe and effective,” Shapiro elaborates. However for there to be any next step there needs to be a substantial amount of money backing the procedures. Hence the “22 by 22” campaign. “22 by 22” was started by a group of volunteers determined to make the hopeful cure see the light of day. Named for the campaign’s ambition of raising $22 million by 2022, scientists and onlookers alike are eager to see the promising results segway to human patients.

As COVID numbers peak in the wake of a devastating third wave, the scientific community continues to be a voice of reason admiss the abundance of hysteria. Despite the inexplicable attempts to discredit science, vaccines and medicine in recent years, humanity is once again in great debt to those like the geniuses at UoA. 2020- the year that made people wake up to how truly incredible (and needed) the scientific community was, is and always will be.