BMC-GPMLS: Distinguished lecture series

Dr. Paul Nurse

Controlling the Cell Cycle

Dr. Paul Nurse is currently the chief executive and director of the newly established Francis Crick Institute in London. Previously he was the President of the Royal Society and of Rockefeller University in New York City and director of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, now Cancer Research UK. In 2001 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine, together with Leland Hartwell and Tim Hunt, for their discovery of the genetic underpinnings of cell cycle regulation. He mostly used the yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe for his work but also showed that his results applied to human cells.

The goals of his research is to better understand the global cellular networks which regulate the eukaryotic cell cycle, cell form and cell growth. These cellular controls are fundamental to the growth, development and reproduction of all living organisms. They are also relevant to understanding disease, particularly cancer. Unrestricted cell proliferation during cancer is often associated with altered cell cycle and cell growth controls, and shape changes are associated with metastatic cells when they are escaping their tissue of origin and migrating elsewhere in the body.

Time:            Friday, April 21, 11.00-12.00

Location:     Fróði auditorium, Sturlugata 8