However, laboratory supplies at Leuven were in shortage, therefore he enrolled in a programme to earn a degree in chemistry at the Cancer Institute. His research on insulin was summed up in a 400-page book titled "Glucose, Insuline et Diabète" ("Glucose, Insulin and Diabetes") published in 1945, simultaneously in Brussels and Paris. The book was condensed into a technical dissertation which earned him the most advanced degree at the university level "agrégation de l'enseignement supérieur" (an equivalent of a doctorate – he called it "a sort of glorified PhD") in 1945. His thesis was followed by a number of scientific publications.