Schally, Andrew Victor (1926-…), a Polish-born American biochemist, was awarded the 1977 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine. He shared the prize with American scientists Roger Guillemin and Rosalyn Yalow (see Guillemin, Roger Charles Louis ; Yalow, Rosalyn Sussman ). The three conducted extensive work in endocrinology, the science dealing with the hormone-secreting endocrine glands. Schally and Guillemin were honored for their discoveries concerning the production of peptide hormones in the brain. Yalow was recognized for her work in the development of radioimmunoassays, a technique for determining how many peptide hormones and other hormones are present in the body. See Hormone .
Schally’s research was conducted into the hormones produced by the hypothalamus, the part of the brain that controls temperature, hunger, and thirst, and by the pituitary gland (see Hypothalamus ; Pituitary gland ). He artificially produced the hormones TRH (thyrotropine-releasing hormone) and LH-RH (luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone) and then examined them in isolation. He also investigated the action of somatostatin, a substance that slows the secretion of growth hormones.
Schally was born in Wilno, Poland (now Vilnius, Lithuania). In 1939, he left Poland and came to England via France and Italy, arriving with his family in 1945. From 1945 to 1948, he studied at the University of London and, from 1949 to1952, he worked at the National Institute for Medical Research (later called the Medical Research Council). He then moved to Montreal, Canada, where he attended McGill University and, in 1957, gained a Ph.D. in biochemistry. In 1962, he became an American citizen. In 1967, after several research posts, he became professor at the Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana.
