Chop & Shake

Once the pancreas is filled (making it look like a balloon), it is chopped into pieces and put into a “Ricordi chamber,” a small chamber with a screen that, when shaken, facilitates the enzyme’s work.

What’s ironic is that in a very high-tech, very tightly controlled environment, this chamber has to be rocked, by hand, for about an hour. “We used to take turns doing this,” Szot says, “but one member of the team really likes to do it himself.”