Paul Nurse is a researcher in cell biology and biochemistry, and is best known as the discoverer of CDK (cyclin dependent kinase), one of the key regulators of the cell cycle. Nurse studied biological science at the University of Birmingham, England, gaining a B.Sc. in 1970. He went on to postgraduate study at the University of East Anglia, England, receiving his Ph.D. in 1973 in cell biology and biochemistry. After postdoctoral work at the Universities of Bern, Edinburgh and Sussex (1973-1984) he moved to the International Cancer Research Fund Laboratory (ICRF) in London, where he stayed for three years. From 1987-1993, he held a position as a Professor at the University of Oxford, and in 1993, he returned to the ICRF, and since 1996 has been its Director-General.

Nurse pioneered research on the regulation of the division of eukaryotic cells. His work with the simple eukaryotic yeast cell Schizosaccharomyces Pombe...