Du Vigneaud, << du VEEN yoh, >> Vincent (1901-1978), was an American biochemist who won the 1955 Nobel Prize for chemistry for his work on biologically important compounds containing sulfur. He was honored especially for his synthesis (laboratory production) of two hormones, vasopressin and oxytocin. The synthesis of any substance is vital to research chemists, because it confirms their ideas of the composition and structure of the molecule.
Du Vigneaud worked in many areas of biochemistry. He researched amino acids (molecules that chain together to form proteins) and performed the first syntheses of some important materials. These synthesized materials included the vitamins biotin (vitamin H) and thiamine (vitamin B1), penicillin, and the hormones vasopressin and oxytocin. These hormones are secreted by the posterior pituitary gland, one of the body’s most important glands, which lies at the base of the brain (see Pituitary gland ). Vasopressin causes blood vessels to contract, thus raising blood pressure. It also limits the secretion of urine. Oxytocin causes contractions of the uterus in childbirth and triggers the secretion of milk in a nursing mother. It is one of the simplest hormones, consisting of just eight amino acids arranged in a circle.
Du Vigneaud was born in Chicago. He gained his Ph.D. from the University of Rochester, New York. Du Vigneaud worked at a number of medical schools in the United States. and Europe. In 1932, he became head of the biochemistry department at the George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. From 1938 to 1967, du Vigneaud was head of the biochemistry department at the Cornell University Medical College in Ithaca, New York, and remained there as professor of chemistry until a few years before his death.
