When the famous physician Elliott Joslin first used insulin in diabetes mellitus (DM), he likened the effect to a biblical piece described as ‘a valley of dry bones rising, being clothed in flesh and restored to life’.1 While insulin treated hyperglycaemic comas effectively after its discovery in 1921, it very quickly became apparent that insulin in too large doses can lead to hypoglycaemic comas and death.2 To this day, insulin remains the cornerstone of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and diabetic emergency treatment in all. The gene discussed is INS; the disease is type 1 diabetes mellitus.