Hartwell, Leland Harrison (1939-…), an American geneticist, won the 2001 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his research on how cells divide and multiply in living organisms. Hartwell shared the Nobel Prize with two British biologists, Timothy Hunt and Sir Paul Nurse, who also made discoveries about the division and multiplication of cells in organisms.
Experimenting with yeast, which is a simple, single-celled organism, Hartwell identified several genes that control the process of cell division necessary for cell reproduction. The various steps involved in cell division and multiplication are known as the cell cycle. Hartwell discovered one gene, which he called the start gene, that controls the first step in the cell cycle. He also found that many living organisms, including plants and human beings, share the genes that control the growth and division of cells. Through his research, he developed a theory about how cells correct mistakes that occur during division.
Scientists know that genes controlling the cell cycle also play a role in the development of cancer. Cancer is a disease in which cells multiply wildly, destroy healthy tissue, and endanger life. Defects in the genes that control the cell cycle may be responsible for the cell changes that lead to cancer. Hartwell’s research has provided scientists with new possibilities for developing successful treatments for cancer.
Hartwell was born in Los Angeles on October 30, 1939. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the California Institute of Technology in 1961. He then earned his Ph.D. degree in microbiology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1964. Hartwell held posts at the University of California at Irvine and University of Washington from 1965 until 1997. That year, he became president and director of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.
See also Cell (Cell division); Hunt, Timothy; Nurse, Sir Paul.
