Luis F. Leloir began a career in medicine but found himself drawn to the relatively more tractable problems posed by biochemistry. His early research involved investigations of fatty acids in the liver, which led to the discovery of antihypertensives. In a subsquent search for the "missing link" in the conversion of carbohydrates in the body into energy, Leloir discovered a group of substances called sugar nucleotides, which allowed him and others to determine the precise mechanism of energy conversion. Leloir also discovered glycogen, which is synthesized along with nucleotides and is the major store of energy in animal cells. Leloir's work with sugar nucleotides won him the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1970.
Luis Federico Leloir was born on September 6, 1906, in Paris, France. Leloir's grandparents on both sides were immigrants to Argentina from France and Spain. When they moved to Argentina they invested in land, which turned to considerable profit as cattle and crops took on great importance in Argentine industry. This money would serve Leloir well later, as it would allow him to follow a career solely in scientific research at a time when such opportunities were very scarce in Argentina.
Leloir's parents, Federico and Hortensia Aguirre Leloir, were in France in 1906 only for a visit, and returned to their home in Buenos Aires, Argentina, when Leloir was two years old. Federico Leloir was educated as a lawyer, though he never practiced in that field. The younger Leloir grew up in a house filled with books on a variety of topics. Later in his life Leloir maintained there was no specific reason for his foray into the field of science, as it was clearly not a family tradition. He described himself as ill-suited to a career in music, sports, politics, or law, but acknowledged that he had a tremendous capacity for teamwork. Leloir completed his primary and secondary education in Buenos Aires, and then enrolled at the University of Buenos Aires to study medicine. He graduated with a medical degree in 1932, followed by employment in the hospital of the university as an intern. He found medicine somewhat limited in terms of the treatment options available at the time, and had no confidence in his own ability to diagnose and treat his patients.
He decided to try a position in research at the Institute of Physiology, still at the university, to help develop new options in treatment for physicians and to work on a Ph.D. degree. He worked under Bernardo Houssay, a Nobel winner in 1947 in the area of adrenal gland research, and consequently developed an interest in biochemistry. His doctoral thesis was written on the influence of the adrenal glands on carbohydrate metabolism, and his thesis won the annual prize of the faculty for best thesis. Leloir's relationship with Houssay would last the rest of Houssay's life, and Leloir described him as an intellectual inspiration.
In 1936 Leloir left Argentina to spend a year in Cambridge, England, conducting postdoctoral work in enzyme research at the Biochemical Laboratory of Cambridge University. He then returned to Buenos Aires and began research on breakdown of fatty acids in the liver. Eventually, his work led to a collaborative discovery of the peptide hypertensin, so named by this group because of its vasoconstrictive action. Vasoconstriction is the constriction of blood vessels, which causes high blood pressure or hypertension. Another group of scientists at Eli Lilly, a pharmaceutical company in Indianapolis, made a similar discovery around the same time, and named their peptide angiotensin. Both groups used these different names for the same peptide for several years, fighting over which it should be called, until finally a compromise was reached. Today the peptide is known as angiotensin. Later, in 1946, Leloir and his group issued a book based on their research findings in this area called Renal Hypertension.
Seeks Research Opportunities in the United States
Though averse to political involvement, Leloir was affected by the Argentine government's decision in 1943 to dismiss Houssay from his position at the university. Houssay had innocently signed a letter that was interpreted as antigovernment, and the country's politics at the time were in a state of upheaval. Many others at the university resigned their positions in support of Houssay, and Leloir decided it would be a good time for him to work abroad. He had married Amelie Zuherbuhler in 1943; together they left for the United States with no positions secured. After a short time in New York City, the Leloirs settled in St. Louis, Missouri, where Leloir worked as a research assistant in a biochemistry laboratory at Washington University. Later he moved to the Enzyme Research Laboratory of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University in New York.
In 1945 Leloir returned to Argentina to work again under Houssay, who had been reinstated at the university. Leloir, though, had begun to hatch a plan to start a private research institute, and slowly began gathering the necessary team. Houssay was eventually removed from his post again, this time for being "over age," but Leloir had his team assembled, and finally received backing from Jaime Campomar. The owner of a textile firm, Campomar had expressed an interest to Houssay in sponsoring a research institute specifically in the area of biochemistry. Thus the Institute for Biochemical Investigations was begun.
The future of Leloir's institute was in question after Campomar died in 1957. In a bit of a last-ditch effort, Leloir applied to the National Institutes of Health in the United States for funding, and to his surprise obtained it. The institute continued to receive monies from the NIH for several years until rules for granting money to foreign applicants were changed. In 1958 the government of Argentina offered assistance as well, giving the institute a former girls' school for a new home. Further financial backing came a short while later after the formation of the Argentine National Research Council, and the institute became associated with the faculty of the University of Buenos Aires.
Scientists at this time were familiar with the idea that carbohydrates are broken down by the body into simpler sugars for energy. Beginning in the late 1940s, Leloir believed there was a "missing link" in the understanding of this process, and set out to find it. What he eventually discovered was a group of substances, now known as sugar nucleotides, that are responsible for the conversion into energy of sugars stored in the body. The discovery of these substances helped Leloir, among others, to determine specifically the process of carbohydrate conversion into energy. Leloir also found that a complex sugar called glycogen is synthesized with these sugar nucleotides, stored in the liver and muscles, and then broken down by the body into simpler glucose as energy is needed.
For his work with sugar nucleotides, Leloir was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1970. He was only the third Argentine to receive the Nobel in any field, and the first in the area of chemistry. He instantly became a national hero, and was later honored as the subject on a postage stamp. Leloir was somewhat leery of the Nobel, telling Newsweek that his prize money would be spent on further research, "if I'm ever allowed to work again in the peace and quiet that I'm used to."
Leloir played a major role in the establishment of the Argentine Society for Biochemical Research as well as the Panamerican Association of Biochemical Sciences. Among his memberships were the National Academy of Sciences (United States) and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was elected to membership in the Royal Society of London in 1972, and to the French Academy of Sciences in 1978. In addition to the Nobel, he received prizes and honors from universities all over the globe, including the Gairdner Foundation Award in 1966 and honorary degrees from the Universities of Paris, Granada (Spain), and Tucumán (Argentina). In 1971 he was keynote speaker at a biochemistry symposium held in his honor.
Leloir was known to be courteous and accessible. He has been given credit for performing major scientific research with limited funding. He often used homemade apparatus and gadgets, and encouraged inventions for use in his laboratory. In one instance Leloir constructed makeshift gutters out of waterproof cardboard to protect the library in his research laboratory from a leaky roof. Leloir died on December 2, 1987, in Buenos Aires, leaving his wife, one daughter, and several grandchildren.
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