Newsletter | Spring 2016 ⋅ Number 69

Outreach and Education

Insulin in Action by David S. Goodsell

The new Insulin and Diabetes poster illustrates how structural biology has revealed the details of insulin signaling and how this knowledge is being used to create new and better treatments for diabetes

The poster is built around the watercolor painting Insulin in Action, which includes glucose (small white circles), insulin (yellow), and the insulin receptor (light green), among others.

Explore more resources and articles about insulin and diabetes using the PDB-101 Browser.




For the third year in a row, the RCSB PDB invited high school students to create short videos that tell a molecular story. This year's challenge focused on sugar metabolism and its complications leading to diabetes. The 82 challenge entries available online show a wide variety of topics with many creative story-telling approaches.

Our panel of expert judges scored the videos based on scientific content (40%), creativity (20%), overall impact (10%), originality of concept (10%), entertainment value (10%), and production quality (10%). In addition, the viewers were invited to vote for the Viewer's Choice Award.

Many thanks to the scientists, students, teachers, parents, judges, and voters who made this exciting competition happen!


Congratulations to the 2016 Winners:


Judge's Award First Place: Sweet Signals: Insulin and Glucagon in Diabetes

By Alexis D'Souza, Sruthi Katakam, and Nithilam Subbaian of West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South in Princeton Junction, NJ (Team Advisor: Matthew Foret)


Judge's Award Second Place: A Bird's Eye View of Pathways in You - Structural View of Insulin and Glucagon

By Gabby Stryker and Posy Stoller from La Jolla Country Day School, LaJolla, CA (Team Advisor: Susan Domanico)


Judge's Award Third Place: Types of Diabetes

By Alice Liu, Shayan Gupta, and Himali Patel of East Brunswick High School in East Brunswick, NJ (Team Advisor: Anne Sanelli)


Viewer's Choice Award: It's Me, You, and Glucose

By Amber Figueroa, Kimberly Gardner, Shane Meledathu, and Emily Payamps of McNair Academic High School in Jersey City, NJ (Team Advisor: Chumki Gupta)

Rutgers University hosted a visit with members of the Government of Zhejiang Province, which included a discussion about the RCSB PDB led by Biocuration Team Lead Jasmine Young.