Geoffrey Wingfield Harris (1913–1971) was a British physiologist and

neuroendocrinologist Neuroendocrinology is the branch of biology (specifically of physiology) which studies the interaction between the nervous system and the endocrine system; i.e. how the brain regulates the hormonal activity in the body. The nervous and endocrine ...

. Often considered the "father of neuroendocrinology",Raisman, G. (1997)"An urge to explain the incomprehensible: Geoffrey Harris and the discovery of the neural control of the pituitary gland." ''Annual Reviews of Neuroscience'', 20:533-56
doi:10.1146/annurev.neuro.20.1.533
/ref> he is best known for showing that the

anterior pituitary A major organ of the endocrine system, the anterior pituitary (also called the adenohypophysis or pars anterior) is the glandular, anterior lobe that together with the posterior lobe (posterior pituitary, or the neurohypophysis) makes up the p ...

is regulated by the hypothalamus via the hypophyseal portal system. His work established the principles for the 1977 Nobel Prize-winning discovery of hypothalamic hormones by Schally and Guillemin.

Education and career

Harris received his undergraduate degree from Cambridge in 1936, and went on to attend medical training at St. Mary's Hospital in London until 1939.Sawin, C. T. (1998
Geoffrey Harris and the Brain's Control of the Pituitary Gland.
''The Endocrinologist'', 8(2):117-122. In 1940, he became a demonstrator of Anatomy at Cambridge, and helped train physicians for the war effort.Donovan, B. T. (1972
Geoffrey W. Harris (1913-1971)
" ''Neuroendocrinology'', 10:52-60. He earned his M.D. from Cambridge in 1944 with a thesis on electrophysiological stimulation of posterior pituitary hormone release. In 1952, he became a professor at the Institute of Psychiatry at the University of London, where he was when elected into the Royal Society. In 1962, he moved to Oxford University, where he began the Medical Research Council Neuroendocrinology Unit. He was awarded the Dale Medal from the British Endocrinological Society in 1971.

Research

In the late 1940s, Harris' early research showed the hypothalamus, but not the pituitary directly, could be electrically stimulated and led to ovulation in rabbits. These experiments led to his hypothesis that the anterior pituitary gland is regulated in a "neurohumoral" manner through the blood vessels between the hypothalamus and the pituitary, the hypophyseal portal system. In collaboration with

Dora Jacobsohn Dora Elisabeth Jacobsohn (1908–1983) was a German-Swedish physiologist and endocrinologist. Considered one of the early pioneers of the field of neuroendocrinology, she is best known for her work with Geoffrey Harris showing that the anterior ...

, he established that blood flows from the hypothalamus to the pituitary through these vessels, and that vascular access to the median eminence is required for pituitary stimulation. He also showed that the brain was the site of negative feedback for gonadal sex

steroids A steroid is a biologically active organic compound with four rings arranged in a specific molecular configuration. Steroids have two principal biological functions: as important components of cell membranes that alter membrane fluidity; and a ...

. Harris was part of the scientific race to characterize the "hypothalamic releasing factors" released into the median eminence, but lacked the funding of competing labs and preferred bioassays to faster immunoassays.

Andrew Schally Andrzej Viktor "Andrew" Schally (born 30 November 1926) is an American endocrinologistAndrew V. Schally"Andrew V. Schally" ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. of Polish ancestry, who was a corecipient, with Roger Guillemin and Rosalyn Sussman Yalow, of ...

and Roger Guillemin ultimately shared the Nobel Prize for the structure and function of GnRH in 1977, after Harris' death in 1971.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Geoffrey Wingfield 1913 births 1971 deaths British physiologists Alumni of the University of Cambridge