24 May 07

Professor Kim Nasmyth, Head of the Biochemistry Department and Whitley Professor of Biochemistry at Oxford University, has been awarded the Gairdner International Award for achievements in medical research.

The Gairdner International Award is given annually for outstanding discoveries or contributions to medical science and is one of the most prestigious awards in the world.

Since 1957, when the awards were founded by the late Toronto businessman James Gairdner, 65 have gone on to win the Nobel Prize.

Professor Nasmyth, a Fellow of Trinity College, is being honoured for his discovery of the mechanism of chromosome segregation during cell division, which has profound implications for the understanding of chromosome non-disjunction in human cancer and other genetic diseases.

Mitosis, the process by which a cell duplicates its chromosomes and splits into two, generating two identical 'daughter' cells, is fundamental to all life. The process is complex and highly regulated, involving a number of phases including the duplication of chromosomes and their separation to form new cells. The Gairdner Foundation observed that 'proper chromosome segregation during mitosis is essential for all life, and has been one of the outstanding problems in cell biology for over 100 years. Nasmyth has dominated the field of mitotic regulation with a series of incisive discoveries.'

The awards ceremony will take place in Toronto in October 2007.