France 2011 90th Anniversary of the discovery of insulin

The French Post released this stamp on 18 November 2011 to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the discovery of insulin. The stamp does not display any overt scientific connection to this important protein, instead the designer has chosen to illustrate the importance with 3 lively human silhouettes casting unlikely shadows that spell the word "vie", which means "life" in french. The importance of insulin was supposedly discovered in 1921 in Toronto and the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine was awarded in 1923 to Frederick Grant Banting and Charles Best for this discovery. However, the Romanians have claimed that Nicolae Paulescu is the true pioneer of insulin, who had developed the substance in 1916 and experimented it on a dog. Paulescu had to interrupt his work because of World War I, and only published his work entitled "Research on the Role of the Pancreas in Food Assimilation" in the Archives Internationales de Physiologie in August 1921, and filed patent 6254 for his invention on 10 April 1922 with the Romanian Ministry of Industry and Trade. More can be read about the insulin itself at PDB: http://www.pdb.org/pdb/101/motm.do?momID=14.

USA 2004 Sickle Cell Stamp

The USPS issued a stamp to highlight the sickle cell disease on 29 September 2004, encouraging parents at risk to test themselves and their children. The stamp designer decided not to use any scientific illustration for the stamp, opting instead to highlight the human side of the disease, featuring a mother lovingly kissing her child, as the disease is genetic in nature and could be passed from parent to child.

Grenada 2010 Sickle Cell Association of Grenada

On 25 June 2010 The Sickle Cell Association of Grenada (SCAG) gathered at the Sauteurs Grenada Catholic Cemetery to lay a wreath and to unveil a plaque in memory of Dr Walter Clement Noel, who became the first recorded case of sickle cell disorder in history. In 1910, Dr James B Herrick publish an article reporting the case of an anaemic student from Grenada with peculiar sickle-shaped red blood cell. Walter C. Noel was born in Grenada on 21 June 1884, he successfully completed in dentistry studies in Chicago and returned to Grenada to do his practice; he died on 3 May 1916 at the age of 32, nine years after his return. Today sickle cell anaemia is the world's largest genetic disorder. The gene defect causing this disease is a mutation of a single nucleotide (single-nucleotide polymorphism - SNP) (A to T) of the ß-globin gene, which results in glutamic acid being substituted by valine (mutation of a single nucleotide, from a GAG to GTG codon). 2 souvenir sheets were released on 9 December 2010 to acknowledge the Sickle Cell Association of Grenada and to commemorate the centennial of the reporting of the first sickle cell case; the designs of the stamps include ribbons and flowers which were part of the wreath laid at the grave of Dr Walter Clement Noel.

Macau 2011 Issue with MRI

Macau Post released on 28 October 2011 a souvenir sheet and a set of 4 stamps commemorating the 140th Anniversary of the Kiang Wu (Mirror Lake) Hospital Charity Association. The central figure in the souvenir sheet is Dr Sun Yat-sen who joined the hospital in 1892 as a voluntary doctor for western medicine, thus introducing western medicine to the institution. On the right side of the souvenir sheet is an early day microscope which could have been used by Dr Sun. Two photos overlapping the right side of the stamp and the sheet selvage illustrate modern medical technology - the MRI whole-body scanner and video-aided key-hole surgery.
Of the 4 stamps, one features a traditional tool for preparing traditional chinese medicine (TCM), another shows a patient undergoing MRI scanning.

Portugal 2011 World Veterinary Year

One of the four stamps released by Portugal on 7 September 2011, to mark World Veterinary Year, features the horse with graphical representation of DNA; the theme of the stamp is animal production and improvement. Incidentally, the first draft genome sequence of the domestic horse (Equus caballus) was completed in April 2007.

Poland 2011 Rudolf Stefan Weigl

One of the 4 stamps released on 29 August 2011 by Poland, on the theme of famous Poles, features Rudolf Stefan Weigl (1883-1957) who invented the first effective vaccine against epidemic typhus in 1933. Weigl's vaccine was made up of ground up lice; lice were responsible for the spread of typhus; the first major application of this vaccine took place between 1936 and 1943 by the Belgian missionaries in China. More modern vaccine against typhus has been invented since then.

Monaco 1974 Centenary of birth of Ernest Duchesne

4 years after Sir Alexander Fleming received the Nobel Prize for the discovery of penicillin, the French National Academy of Medicine (l’Académie nationale de médecine) officially recognized Ernest Duchesne's original work in 1894 as the original discovery of antibiotics! This stamp released by Monaco on 8 May 1974 celebrates the birth centenary of Ernest Duchesne. Duchesne enrolled at l'Ecole du Service de Santé Militaire de Lyon (School of Military Health Services in Lyons) in 1894, and in 1897 submitted his thesis, “Contribution à l’étude de la concurrence vitale chez les micro-organismes: antagonisme entre les moisissures et les microbes” (Contribution to the study of competitive survival of micro-organisms: Antagonism between moulds and microbes) to get his doctoral degree. This was considered the first study in the therapeutic capabilities of moulds resulting from their anti-microbial activity. Because of his youth and military commitment, his recommendation in his thesis for further investigation into this phenomenon was ignored. Duchesne died at age of 37 on 12 April 1912, from a lung infection, probably tuberculosis.