Nobel Prize winner Sir Paul Nurse at University

Nobel Prize winner Sir Paul Nurse will receive an honorary degree from the University and deliver its annual Postgraduate Biosciences Symposium Lecture on 10 July.

Sir Paul, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2001 for his genetics research with two others on protein molecules and their impact on cells, will receive an honorary Doctor of Science degree at the University's morning Graduation Ceremony at Canterbury Cathedral.

Sir Paul will also deliver the 20th annual School of Biosciences Postgraduate Symposium Lecture at 5pm at the Canterbury campus. His lecture is titled Controlling the Cell Cycle and will give an insight into his pioneering work on the cell cycle, a series of molecular checkpoints and events that ensure correct division of the cell but, when aberrant, can have major impacts for the development of cancer.

Sir Paul is the current President of the Royal Society, London. He was previously Professor of Microbiology at the University of Oxford, CEO of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund and Cancer Research UK and President of Rockefeller University New York. He is currently Director and Chief Executive of the Francis Crick Institute, a visionary multidisciplinary medical research institute due to open in London in 2015.

Professor Dame Julia M Goodfellow, Kent's Vice-Chancellor, said: 'As a University with a very strong track-record in Bioscience research we are delighted to be able to welcome Sir Paul to receive an honorary degree and deliver this annual lecture.

'Sir Paul's achievements speak for themselves. His Nobel Prize was awarded in recognition of his outstanding research on proteins and their effect on cells and this work remains a benchmark for excellence.'

Dr Gary Robinson, Senior Lecturer in Microbial Technology in the School of Biosciences, said: 'Sir Paul is an outstanding bioscientist, Nobel Laureate and communicator who has made, and continues to make, a major contribution to us all understanding fundamental yet complex cellular processes. We are very pleased to welcome him to our School for our 20th annual Postgraduate Symposium.

'His discovery of rate limiting steps in cell cycle progression and their control in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe were fundamental to our current understanding of cell division. Sir Paul shared the 2001 Nobel Prize with Professor Leland Hartwell and Sir Tim Hunt, each majorly contributing to our greater understanding of the control and chronology of the cell cycle and experimentally demonstrating the role of cell division cycle (CDC) genes and cyclins in a variety of model yeast and sea urchin systems.

'Such molecular understanding has underpinned the development of some cancer diagnostics and therapies and continues to be a rapidly evolving field of research and discovery.'

The Postgraduate Biosciences Symposium Lecture will take place at the Keynes Lecture Theatre 1 from 5-6pm on Tuesday 10 July. The lecture is open to all and wheelchair access is available. Members of the public wishing to attend are asked to register at: bio-admin@kent.ac.uk.

Contact: pressoffice@kent.ac.uk

Story published at 10:28am 6 July 2012