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The Lizard Behind Ozempic

Middle school learnscience.org

Name Date

Predict

The Gila monster is a big orange and black lizard with a venomous bite. Its venom holds a molecule that works like a hormone your body makes after you eat. Could a molecule from lizard venom lead to a medicine for people?

Circle one. Yes / No

Why?

Watch

  1. Ozempic exists because of a LIZARD!youtube.com/shorts/3CZu2rwL4NQ

Word of the day

Insulin (IN-suh-lin). A hormone that helps move sugar from your blood into your cells. Tiny islands of cells in your pancreas, called islets, make insulin.

Word partComes fromMeaning
insul-Latin insulaisland
-inNew Latin -inaan ending for names of chemicals
  • A peninsula is land with water almost all the way around. Peninsula comes from Latin paen-, “almost,” and insula, “island.”
  • Insulation in a wall keeps heat from passing through. Insulate comes from Latin for “made into an island.”

Bonus word. Homeostasis (hoh-mee-oh-STAY-sis). Your body keeps the conditions inside it steady, even when conditions outside change. Homeo- means similar, and -stasis means standing. A thermostat keeps a room at a steady temperature in the same way.

Questions

  1. Insulin is a hormone, a chemical messenger that travels in your blood. Insulin helps move sugar out of your blood and into your cells. After you eat, your gut makes another hormone called GLP-1, and GLP-1 signals your pancreas to release more insulin. Why does your body release more insulin after you eat?

    Hint. What goes up in your blood after a meal?

  2. Your body breaks down GLP-1 in about 2 minutes. A thermostat turns the heat on when a room gets cold and turns the heat off when the room warms up. Why would a GLP-1 signal that shuts off within a few minutes help your body?

    Hint. What could happen to your blood sugar if insulin kept rising long after a meal?

  3. Exendin-4 is a molecule from Gila monster venom. Exendin-4 works like GLP-1, but exendin-4 lasts for hours instead of minutes. Why was a molecule that lasts for hours such a big deal for treating high blood sugar?

    Hint. Could a signal that disappears in 2 minutes work as a medicine?

  4. Ozempic is the brand name of a medicine called semaglutide. Scientists made semaglutide by changing human GLP-1, and no part of semaglutide comes from lizard venom. Ozempic didn’t come from a lizard. How did Gila monster research still help lead to Ozempic?

    Hint. Exenatide, a lab-made copy of exendin-4, became a medicine in 2005. Ozempic was approved in 2017. Which medicine came first?

Exit ticket

Exendin-4 and GLP-1 work the same way in the body, but exendin-4 lasts much longer. GLP-1 starts with the building blocks H, A and E. Exendin-4 starts with H, G and E. An enzyme called DPP-4, a protein that cuts other molecules, cuts these two quickly when the second building block is A. What tiny difference between exendin-4 and GLP-1 makes exendin-4 last longer?

Hint. Compare the second building block of each molecule.

Sources