Roger Guillemin, whose insights about brain hormones broadly helped lead to better ways to fight disease and earned him the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, died Wednesday in Del Mar. He was 100.
He passed away on the birthday of his late wife, Lucienne, who died in 2021, also at the age of 100. They were married for 69 years.
Guillemin was one of the world’s foremost experts on the endocrine system, which controls the body’s hormones. It affects everything from metabolism to sexual function, and factors into such diseases as diabetes, osteoporosis and cancer.
The Salk hired the star researcher in 1970 to lead the institute’s new Laboratories for Neuroendocrinology, helping to establish the center as one of the hottest destinations in biomedical science.
Guillemin, a warm man whose love of science knew no bounds, discovered somatostatin, a hormone that proved useful in treating pituitary tumors. He also was among the first scientists to isolate endorphins, hormones that reduce stress and relieve pain.
His research was crucial to proving and explaining the role that the brain plays in regulating hormones. This work led to him sharing the Nobel Prize with researchers Andrew V. Schally and Rosalyn Yalow.
Guillemin was one of many noted European scientists to join the Salk, a seaside center in La Jolla that was founded by Jonas Salk, who developed the first effective vaccine against polio.
Guillemin was born on Jan. 11, 1924, in Dijon, France, which is famous for its food and wines. He survived the German occupation of France during World War II and earned a medical degree at the Faculté de Médecine in Lyon. Guillemin later moved to the University of Montreal, where he earned a doctorate in physiology, specializing in endocrinology.
His journeys eventually took him to the Salk, whose visiting faculty in 1970 already included Francis Crick, who shared the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with James Watson for discovering the molecular structure of DNA.
The Salk said that Guillemin is survived by five daughters, one son, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
