By Julia DiPinto and Dan Distel

A specimen of American anglerfish Lophius americanus.

(Credit: Mike Beauregard from Nunavut, Canada – pull my finger, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34612997)

Sometimes the answers to challenges on land can be found in the ocean. That was the case for Harvard professor Joel Habener, whose unconventional fishing expedition helped unlock a medical breakthrough that has transformed the treatment of diabetes and obesity.

Dr. Habener’s journey began in 1983 when he set out to use the then-new technology of gene cloning to locate the gene for proglucagon, a building block of the pancreatic hormones glucagon and somatostatin. These vital hormones are responsible for regulating blood sugar levels. Where to even begin looking? The conventional lab rat was ruled out, as the National Institutes of Health had just placed a temporary moratorium on recombinant DNA research in warm-blooded animals while it weighed the potential risks of this new type of research.

So, Dr. Habener looked to the sea for a cold-blooded alternative. The American anglerfish or monkfish proved to be the perfect candidate as its large pancreatic islet cells allowed for easier mRNA and hormone extraction. Dr. Habener and his team found GLP-1, a transformative hormone that stimulates insulin production. This discovery led to a new class of drugs that mimic the action of GLP-1 and are now used to treat diabetes and obesity. These drugs, including Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Zepbound, have recently become some of the fastest-growing drugs on the market.

This is a great example of how critical scientific and health problems can be solved by looking at marine species. The OGL Collection proudly preserves and shares the genetic biodiversity of the ocean, ensuring that new discoveries like this won’t be missed.

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