This morning the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, announced that Lee Hartwell, president and director of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, has won the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in yeast genetics. He shares the honor with Paul Nurse and Timothy Hunt, both of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London.
Hartwell’s findings expanded the understanding of how normal cells divide and the mechanisms behind the uncontrolled growth of cancer cells. He conducted much of his groundbreaking work at the UW, where he is professor of genetics and adjunct professor of medicine.
"Those who know Lee Hartwell and his work have long hoped that this day would come," said Paul G. Ramsey, UW vice president for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine. "In the finest tradition of the Nobel Prize, his contributions to cancer research have enabled others to go on and make countless advances of their own. All of us at the University of Washington Academic Medical Center celebrate this richly deserved recognition of a truly world-class bioscientist who is also a fine colleague and friend."
By studying the budding yeast commonly used in brewing beer and baking bread, Hartwell identified many genes that control cell division. The advantages of yeast for these studies are its rapid division, its facile genetic system, and its budding shape.
The genes that control cell division in yeast have also been found to control human cell division, and are often altered in cancer. In addition to having altered cell division, cancer cells are genetically unstable.
Hartwell also used yeast in investigations of accurate cellular reproduction and discovered "checkpoint" genes. These genes respond to mistakes during cellular reproduction and halt cell division for repairs.
Hartwell, 61, was born Oct. 30, 1939 in Los Angeles. He earned a B.S. degree in 1961 at the California Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. degree in 1964 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His mentor was Boris Magasanik.
Hartwell did postdoctoral work at the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences from 1964 to 1965 with Renato Dulbecco.
Hartwell joined the UW faculty in 1968 and became professor of genetics in 1973. In 1996 he joined the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and became its president and director in 1997.
Hartwell is the Hutchinson Center’s second Nobel Laureate. The first was E. Donnall Thomas, who in 1990 won a joint prize in physiology or medicine for his work in bone-marrow transplantation. Thomas is also a UW professor emeritus of medicine and oncology.
The UW has three other Nobel Laureates: Hans Dehmelt, who received the 1989 prize in physics for developing the ion trap technique; and Edmond Fischer and Edwin Krebs, who in 1992 received the prize for discovering protein phosphorylation-dephosphorylation, a critical switching mechanism in cells.
For more information, see the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Web site.
