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  In their separate laboratories, Guillemin and Schally investigated how the brain controls the hormone-producing glands. During the 1950s, they were able to extract substances which direct the release of hormones from the pituitary, thyroid, and gonad glands from the part of the brain called the hypothalmus. Not until 1969, however, was either laboratory able to isolate and purify one of those substances, Thyroid Releasing Factor (TRF). TRF released Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH). This discovery opened up new avenues of research into how the brain and hormones work. For more information about Guillemin and Schally's work, see www.nobel.se/medicine/laureates/1977/press.html.

"I always hoped that somehow I could one day work in a laboratory." Roger C. L. Guillemin, Les Prix Nobel, 1977.
Roger C. L. Guillemin was born in France on January 11, 1924 and studied at the School of Medicine in Dijon, graduating in 1949. He moved to Canada and studied at the University of Montreal. Later he taught at Baylor University College of Medicine in Houston, Texas and became interested in how the pituitary gland was controlled. He established the Laboratories for Neuroendocrinology at the Salk Institute in San Diego. Guillemin also served on several National Institutes of Health advisory groups over the years. For more information about Guillemin, see www.nobel.se/medicine/laureates/1977/guillemin-autobio.html.
 


"...I was encouraged that they and other astute scientists had confidence in our work and the foresight to appreciate the possible scientific and medical importance of hypothalamic hormones." Andrew V. Schally, Les Prix Nobel, 1977.

Andrew Schally was born in Poland, November 30, 1926 and grew up in Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe. In 1945, he moved to Scotland to study chemistry, and then worked at the National Institute of Medical Research in London. In 1952, he moved to McGill University in Montreal, Canada, until 1957, when he went to Baylor University College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, where he met Roger C. L. Guillemin. He later had his own laboratory at Tulane University in New Orleans. An interest in infertility problems and population control spurred him to investigate the role of hormones in the brain. For more information about Schally, see www.nobel.se/medicine/laureates/1977/schally-autobio.html.

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