Three British and US scientists whose discoveries about how cells divide have opened dramatic possibilities for curing cancer have been awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize for medicine.
Dr Leland Hartwell of the US along with Sir Paul Nurse and Dr Timothy Hunt, both of Britain, received this year's award for setting down a theoretical basis for explaining how malignant cells can reproduce wildly.
"These fundamental discoveries have a great impact on all aspects of cell growth" and "may in the long term open new possibilities for cancer treatment," Sweden's Karolinska Institute said in its citation for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Dr Hartwell (61) was recognised for his discovery of more than 100 genes that specifically regulate the four-stage process by which a single cell grows, duplicates its chromosomes, verifies this duplication and then divides, leaving two "daughter" cells to begin the cycle again.
Sir Paul Nurse, building on Hartwell's work, found a gene called CDK1 (cyclin dependent kinase 1), which produces a protein that regulates the different phases of the cell cycle.
Scientists are already making use of the new knowledge the trio's work has provided to understand why a failure in the cell cycle, such as that that occurs in cancer, can be so catastrophic.
Dr Hartwell, chief executive at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle, Washington, said he was pleased and surprised at winning the award.
"What I think the prize means is really a recognition of the sort of unity of biology," he said.
"We discovered many genes that control cell division, and it turned out that the same genes were found in human cells, so it's about unity, evolutionary relatedness of all living things that is the big story that is so rewarding."
Sir Paul and Dr Hunt, who both work for the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) in London, said they were "over the moon" about winning the prestigious prize.
"Advances in cancer don't happen overnight but thanks to long-term research with long-term funding of the type provided by ICRF, we now have a better idea of how cancer actually develops," Sir Paul told a press conference in London. "That knowledge will underpin future prevention and treatment strategies." Cancer researchers hailed the attribution of the award to the three researchers.
"It's a wonderful and very well deserved recognition of a truly seminal achievement," said Dr Richard Flavell, a British-born immunobiologist at Yale University's School of Medicine.