Guillemin, Roger Charles Louis

Guillemin, Roger Charles Louis

(gēyəmăN`), 1924–, French-American physiologist, b. Dijon, France. Educated in France, he fought for the resistance during World War II. He taught primarily at Baylor Univ. (1953–70), until he became a researcher at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies (Calif.). Guillemin isolated and synthesized the hormones produced by the hypothalamus gland. These hormones regulate the pituitary gland, which governs other glands that regulate such body functions as reproduction and emotional responses. He also discovered endorphinsendorphins
, neurotransmitters found in the brain that have pain-relieving properties similar to morphine. There are three major types of endorphins: beta endorpins, found primarily in the pituitary gland; and enkephalins and dynorphin, both distributed throughout the nervous
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, a class of hormonal substances. His work added new dimensions to the study of the brain's control over the body's chemistry. In 1977, Guillemin shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Andrew Schally and Rosalyn YalowYalow, Rosalyn Sussman,
1921–2011, American medical physicist, b. New York City, Ph.D. Univ. of Illinois, 1945. As a researcher at the Bronx Veterans Administration Hospital (from 1947), Yalow and colleague Solomon A.
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.