Work

From the beginning organisms evolve from one cell, which divides and becomes new cells that in turn divide. Eventually different types of cells are formed with different roles. For an organism to function and develop normally, cell division has to occur at a suitable pace. Paul Nurse has helped to show how the cell cycle is controlled. Through studies of yeast in the mid-1970s, Nurse was able to show that a special gene plays a decisive role in several of the cell cycle’s phases. In 1987 he identified a corresponding human gene.