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.