Cell cycle

Click on the image to open a larger version. Copyright: Paul Nurse

This is a diagram of the cell cycle sketched by Sir Paul Nurse FRS, the 2001 Nobel Prize Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, outlining the main events that occur when cells divide and replicate. Our understanding of this most fundamental of cellular processes has resulted in the development of several cancer drugs currently in clinical trials.

This image was used to illustrate The Scientific Century (cover of Part 3).