Leland Hartwell, president and director of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and a professor of genetics in the College of Arts and Sciences for nearly 30 years, received the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award on September 25. The Lasker Award is one of the most prestigious in medical research, with many recipients going on to win the Nobel Prize.

Why is Hartwell's research so noteworthy? Using yeast cells as his subject, Hartwell has studied the process of cell division by isolating mutants and analyzing their properties. His work has provided significant insights into how human cells grow, develop, and sometimes spin out of control into cancer.

In recent years, these studies have led Hartwell to the discovery of important cellular "checkpoints" that are responsible for correcting errors in the chromosomes and other cellular constituents as the cell division cycle proceeds. Through these "checkpoints," the cell checks to make sure each step in division has been accurately completed before taking the next step. If errors have occurred, the cell cycle stops and allows for repair. This realization has led to a vast body of research throughout the bioscience community showing that many cell types, including those in humans, display similar checkpoint mechanisms. Importantly, it has been discovered that cancer cells often have a specific defect in checkpoint control.

Hartwell is now helping direct research on drugs that interact specifically with these cell cycle controls. "We're at a very hopeful time," Hartwell recently told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "The next ten years will see really significant changes in the way we treat cancer."

[Autumn 1998 - Table of Contents]