Sir Paul Nurse OM CH FRS
Presenting the lecture
(L to R) Prof Eugenia Piddini, Prof Anne Ridley, Sir Paul Nurse and Prof Rafael Carazo Salas
18 December 2023
The School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine welcomed Sir Paul Nurse OM CH FRS for the Annual Sir Anthony Epstein Lecture.
The Annual Sir Anthony Epstein Lecture was held on 13 December 2023 in the Biomedical Sciences Building, for this year we invited Sir Paul Nurse OM CH FRS the University of Bristol Chancellor and Director of The Francis Crick Institute.
Before the lecture Sir Paul met with some of our postgraduates and research staff over lunch, and they were able to quiz him on the best advice for a long fruitful career.
The talk was introduced by our Head of School Professor Anne Ridley and by Professor Rafael Carazo Salas, Chair in Biomedical Sciences, who was once a post doc in Sir Paul’s lab! At the end of the lecture there was time for a few questions from the audience, hosted by Professor Eugenia Piddini, Professorial Research Fellow in Cell Biology and CMM Research Director.
Following the lecture there was time for both students and staff to chat with him over a drink at the reception, along with a few selfies as well!
The School Research Director Professor Eugenia Piddini said: "What an absolute pleasure it has been to host Sir Paul Nurse this week for the Sir Anthony Epstein lecture! Paul gave us the ultimate lecture on the cell cycle, demonstrating how even in a field as well established as this, still there is a lot to learn, discover and rethink. Paul is an incredibly inspirational scientist and science champion and it is always very refreshing to hear his views on science. He is a pillar of today’s scientific enterprise, whose vision contagiously shapes our world as scientists.”
The Head of School, Professor Anne Ridley said: “We were delighted to host Sir Paul Nurse, Chancellor of the University of Bristol, for our Annual Sir Anthony Epstein lecture. He gave an exciting lecture on his research to a packed lecture theatre, which included many undergraduate and postgraduate students, members of the public as well staff members from a wide range of backgrounds. It was a pleasure to meet him and hear about his impressive research findings over many years and his personal ideas about what is important in science”.
We look forward to revealing our next speaker in the series in the near future, and you can see our previous speakers on our CMM events page.
Further information
About the lecture series:
The Sir Anthony Epstein lecture was inaugurated at the University of Bristol in 2009 to recognise the achievements of outstanding scientists in the fields of cancer biology, infection and immunology. It celebrates the achievements of Sir Anthony Epstein who was Professor of Pathology at Bristol University (1968-85) and one of the discoverers of the Epstein-Barr virus.
The Sir Anthony Epstein Lecture is held annually and is open to all staff, students and members of the public to attend. It is an evening lecture, and will be held in Lecture Theatre E29, Biomedical Sciences Building, and will be followed by a drinks reception for all guests.
About the speaker:
Further details about Sir Paul Nurse, OM CH FRS, Director, The Francis Crick Institute and Chancellor of the University of Bristol.
Paul Nurse is a geneticist and cell biologist who works on how the eukaryotic cell cycle is controlled. His major work has been on the cyclin dependent protein kinases and how they regulate cell reproduction. He is Director of the Francis Crick Institute in London, Chancellor of the University of Bristol, and has served as President of the Royal Society, Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK and President of Rockefeller University. He shared the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and has received the Albert Lasker Award, the Gairdner Award, the Louis Jeantet Prize and the Royal Society's Royal and Copley Medals.
He was knighted in 1999 made a Companion of Honour and awarded the Order of Merit in 2022 for services to science and medicine in the UK and abroad, received the Legion d'honneur in 2003 from France, and the Order of the Rising Sun in 2018 from Japan. He served for 15 years on the UK Council of Science and Technology, advising the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and was a Chief Scientific Advisor for the European Union. In 2020 he wrote “What is Life” which has been published in 22 countries. Paul flies gliders and vintage aeroplanes and has been a qualified bush pilot. He also likes the theatre, hill-walking, going to museums and art galleries, and running very slowly.
About the talk:
Title: ‘Controlling the Cell Cycle’
Both S-phase and M-phase are common to both mitotic and meiotic cell cycles and are necessary for newly divided cells to receive a full complement of genes. In fission yeast the onset of S-phase and M-phase during both mitosis and meiosis can be brought about by a single cyclin dependent kinase replacing the 4 mitotic and 6 meiotic CDKs. In vivo protein kinase assays have shown that the substrate specificity is very similar for G1/S and G2/M CDKs. Increasing levels of CDK activity bring about progression through the major events of cell cycles in an orderly fashion.
Using phosphoproteomics we show that a low CDK activity is sufficient to bring about S-phase whilst a high activity is needed for onset of mitosis. A G2 cell can be programmed to undergo either S-phase or M-phase simply by modifying CDK activity indicating there is no inherent arrow of time in the cell cycle. In vivo protein kinase assays show protein kinase activity increases 50-fold during the cell cycle, and part of this span of activity is related to cellular localisation. The accumulation of G2/M cyclin through the cell cycle could act as a measure of cell size, followed by a bistable switch of tyrosine phosphorylation control of CDK to bring about irreversible entry into mitosis.
