Vincent du Vigneaud, PhD Papers

On May 18, 1901, Dr. Vincent du Vigneaud was born in Chicago. He was educated at the University of Illinois where he received a B.S. degree in 1923 and a M.S. degree in 1924. Upon graduation, he worked for one year as the assistant biochemist at Philadelphia General Hospital and the Graduate School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania. He earned a PhD degree from University of Rochester in 1927. He received further training as a National Research Council Fellow working at several institutions including Johns Hopkins University Medical School, Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Dresden, Germany, University of Edinburgh Medical School in Scotland, and the University College Hospital Medical School in London. After his fellowship, he was on the physiological chemical staff at University of Illinois at Urbana, Illinois. In 1932, he was appointed head of the Department of Biochemistry at George Washington University School of Medicine. From 1938-1967, he was the chairman of the Department of Biochemistry at Cornell University Medical College. After his retirement in 1967, he was the professor of chemistry at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.

Dr. du Vigneaud engaged in several landmark research studies. He first conducted research on the sulfur of insulin. In 1946, Dr. du Vigneaud and his colleagues at Cornell University Medical College were successful in isolating in crystalline form the active synthetic G. penicillin. Later he focused on the hormones oxytocin and vasopressin both produced by the posterior pituitary gland. It was his work with sulfur compounds and the first synthesis of the polypetide hormone, oxytocin that led to his being awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1955. This work opened new research in the field of protein organic chemistry. He collaborated with numerous graduate students and researchers in his laboratory.

Along with the Nobel Prize, he was awarded the Lasker Award from the American Public Health Association in 1948, Nichols Medal from the American Chemical Society in 1945, and numerous other awards.

He died on December 11, 1978.