The ‘birthplace of insulin’ is just two hours away from Detroit; go inside the Banting House

November is Diabetes Awareness Month and Nov. 14 is World Diabetes Day, but did you know the birthplace of insulin is just two hours away from Detroit.

The London, Ontario, home of Sir Frederick G. Banting is where he first had the idea to isolate insulin from the pancreas.

See video from inside the Banting House below

Banting was born on Nov. 14, 1891, in Alliston, Ontario. After studying at the University of Toronto and serving as a medical officer in the Canadian Army during World War I, he moved to to London, Ontario, to begin a family practice. However, he also took a teaching job at the University of Western Ontario.

According to the museum, during his time at the University of Western Ontario, he had to give a lecture about the pancreas to one of his classes, so he had been doing some reading.

According to the University of Western Ontario, Banting awoke at 2 a.m. on Oct. 31, 1920, and wrote down 25 words in his logbook. Tour guides at the museum noted that Banting wasnt great at spelling.

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), he wrote, according to UWO.

He eventually went on to the University of Toronto to continue experiments, because UWO did not have the facilities test Bantings hypothesis.

During his time in Toronto, Banting conducted the experiments with Charles Best, a medical student.

According to UWO, the first therapeutic use of insulin took place on Jan. 23, 1922, helping improve the condition of a 13-year-old. By 1923, insulin became widely available across North America.

Banting was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1923 alongside J.J.R. Macleod.

What you can see inside the museum

In the museum, you can learn more about Banting and his work on insulin, and his time in London.

There are exhibits, letters, newspaper clippings and even old diabetic technology and insulin dating back decades.

Theres even a photo of a Detroit Free Press article from Dec. 9, 1923, where the paper published a story calling the house the Birthplace of Insulin.

In 1989, Queen Elizabeth visited the Banting House, where they unveiled the statue and a Flame of Hope, which is an eternal flame that burns until a cure for diabetes is found. At that time, the doctor or team of doctors will be brought to London to extinguish the flame and pull out a time capsule placed in 1991.

This flame will be extinguished at the very instant that diabetes is finally conquered," the Queen said during her 1989 visit.

Each year on Nov. 14, the Banting House commemorates World Diabetes Day with free admission to the house, the unveiling of commemorative bricks, the reading of Dr. Banting's letters and more.

The museum is open Tuesdays through Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and admission is $9 CAD for adults. They also offer guided tours that last 45 to 60 minutes, and parking is available next to the museum.

You can learn more about the Banting House here.