Vincent du Vigneaud

Vincent du Vigneaud (May 18, 1901 – December 11, 1978) was an American biochemist. He won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1955. For the isolation, structural identification and total synthesis of the cyclic peptide oxytocin.[1]

Vincent du Vigneaud
Born	May 18, 1901 Chicago USA
Died	December 11, 1978 (aged 77) Ithaca, New York, USA
Alma mater	University of Rochester
Doctoral advisor	John R. Murlin
Notable awards	Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1955)

Life

Vigneaud graduated from Schurz High School in 1918. he started studying chemistry at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign]]. He was influenced by lectures of Carl Shipp Marvel. After receiving his M.S. in 1924 he joined DuPont but restarted his academic career by joining the group of John R. Murlin at the University of Rochester for a Ph.D thesis in 1925. He married Zella Zon Ford June 12 1924. He graduated in 1927 with his work The Sulfur in Insulin. After several Post-doc positions with John Jacob Abel at Johns Hopkins University Medical School, Max Bergmann at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Leather Research in Dresden and others he became professor at the University of Illinois He went to George Washington University Medical School in Washington, D.C. in 1932 and to Cornell Medical College in New York City in 1938 where he stayed until his emeritation in 1967. From 1967 on he held a position at Cornell University Ithaca, New York. In 1974 he suffered from a stroke which ended his academic career. One year after his wife's death, he passed away.

Work

His career was characterized by an interest in sulfur, proteins, and, espicially, peptides. Even before his famous work on elucidating and synthesizing oxytocin and vasopressin, he had established a reputation for work on insulin, biotin, transmethylation, and penicillin.[2] He also began a series of structure-activity relationships for oxytocin and vasopressin, perhaps the first for peptides.

Legacy

He joined Alpha Chi Sigma while at the University of Illinois in 1930.

Links

* http://nobelprize.org/chemistry/laureates/1955/vigneaud-bio.html

References

1. ^ Du Vigneaud V, Ressler C, Swan JM, RobertsCW and Katsoyannis PG (1954). "Oxytocin: synthesis". Journal of the American Chemical Society 76: 3115–3118. doi:10.1021/ja01641a004.

2. ^ Ragnarsson U. L. F. (2007). "The Nobel trail of Vincent du Vigneaud". Journal of Peptide Science 13 (7): 431 - 433. doi:10.1002/psc.864.

* Hofmann K. (1986). "Vincent du Vigneaud: May 18, 1901-December 11, 1978.". Biogr Mem Natl Acad Sci 56: 543-95.

* Raymond G Anderson (2001). "Du Vigneaud, Vincent introductory". Encyclopedia of Life Sciences. doi:10.1038/npg.els.0002774.

* Gerhard Giebisch (2002). "The Scientific Achievements of R.F. Pitts and V. du Vigneaud". American Journal of Nephrology 22 (2-3): 186-191. doi:10.1159/000063759.