Abstract

The growth and reproduction of all living organisms are dependent on the cell cycle, the process which leads to cell division. Uncontrolled division of cells is important for disease particularly cancer. Two events, S-phase and mitosis, are common to all cell cycles and are necessary for the two newly divided cells to receive a full complement of genes. In fission yeast the onset of S-phase and mitosis are controlled by a single cyclin dependent kinase with different levels of CDK activity bringing about progression through the cell cycle in an ordered fashion. Activation of CDK activity is determined by growth rate and cell size, with cell size determined by a gradient mechanism with controlling molecules diffusing from the periphery of the cell to be sensed in the middle of the cell.

Biography

Paul Nurse is a geneticist and cell biologist who has worked with the fission yeast to understand how the eukaryotic cell cycle is controlled and how cell shape and cell dimensions are determined. His major work has been on the cyclin dependent protein kinases and how they regulate onset of S-phase and mitosis and ensure there is only one S-phase each cell cycle. He is President of Rockefeller University, New York and previously served as Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK. He shared the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and has received the Albert Lasker Award and the Royal Society's Royal and Copley Medals.

The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception.

To register your place please rsvp amanda.cerny@imperial.ac.uk