PGG International seminars: Inaugural Conference

The 2008-2009 PGG International Seminar focused on the theme of “Transnational Research & Cancer”, and began with a remarkable lecture by the 2001 Nobel Prize in Medicine: Tim Hunt.

Tim Hunt’s inaugural lecture took place on 30 October at the “Institut Curie” (Paris V). He tackled the problem of cancer with a simple, comprehensive approach, which was why colleagues from different backgrounds (biologists, doctors, chemists, physicists, students, etc.) had come to hear him speak.

His lecture began with a tribute to Pierre-Gilles de Gennes and his ability to use straightforward, fundamental examples to explain complicated theories. He also underlined his way of describing molecular levels and interfaces.

Tim Hunt started on the subject of cancer with a family case to show that cancer is an issue that concerns everybody. “Cancer is an old-age disease because we live much longer these days; one person out of every three could be affected by this disease”.

The second half of his speech covered the biologic, medical and societal generalities of cancer, as well as its historical background. He then discussed the molecular and cellular aspects of cancers and tumors: from the cellular composition of tumors – “Tumors are composed of both normal and tumor cells, and they have a good blood sample supply” - to chromosome rearrangement – “The distribution of chromosomes is not the same in every cell: no one cell has all chromosomes. It is not the number but the right combination of chromosomes that is essential for proper cell development” - and DNA damage. Obviously, research that led him to the Nobel Prize determined his approach to the topic of cancer. The role of cyclins in cell growth also plays a part in tumor growth.

Tim Hunt finally raised captivating questions on solutions to stop cancer development or kill tumor cells by using growth inhibitors cyclins or drugs like Taxol (cytotoxic stabilizing the spindle involved in cancer treatment). He also treated problems like “Why cells grow out of control in tumors?”, “How tumor cells take advantage of good tissue nutrients on a molecular level?” In his opinion, interactions between tumor cells and normal cells are a key subject of research that needs to be explored if we want to overcome cancer.

His way of thinking, his sense of humour and his manner of speaking made him an interesting and talented orator. His speech and the colourful examples he gave enabled the public to clearly understand the impact of cancer on humans and the need to pool disciplines in order to find solutions to treat this disease.

Tim HUNT

Born in 1943 at Neston in the Wirral, raised in Oxford and schooled at Cambridge, Tim Hunt, still very young, hit upon Biology and from then on decided to dedicate his life to the “joy of discovery”.

In the early 1980s, already affirmed biochemist, using sea urchins as a model system, he found the first cyclin molecule. Cyclins are proteins produced or degraded periodically in order to control the general mechanism of the cell cycle, i.e. driving the cell through the different stages of the cell cycle.

In 2001 Tim Hunt was awarded the Nobel prize in Medicine jointly to his collaborator Paul Nurse, and to the American scientist Leland H. Hartwell “for their discoveries of key regulators of the cell cycle"

And this fundamental discovery, that hold true in other species (around ten different cyclins have been found in humans) and the ascertainment that cyclins are conserved during evolution, have a great impact on all aspects of cell growth. In fact, as the Nobel press release explained, “defects in cell cycle control may lead to the type of chromosome alterations seen in cancer cells. This may in the long term open new possibilities for cancer treatment.”

On this occasion Tim Hunt commented about his discovery:

“Today, cyclins and cyclin-dependent protein kinases are recognised as key elements in the regulation of cell cycle transitions, and the family of proteins has grown considerably, thanks to work in many laboratories. I well recall the scepticism in the early days, however, when most people did not believe things could be so simple as making an enzyme to catalyse mitosis, and then destroying the enzyme to leave mitosis. Moreover, in retrospect, we were very slow to realise that cyclins were regulatory and activating subunits of Cdc2 and its relatives. I do not know why this penny took so long to drop.”