Two British researchers and an American have won the 2001 Nobel Prize in Medicine for discoveries in cell development that are expected to bring new cancer treatments.
Dr Timothy Hunt (58) of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in Hertfordshire, Dr Paul Nurse (52) of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London and Dr Leland Hartwell (61) of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle were cited for their research.
These findings are about to be "applied to tumour diagnostics . . . and may in the long term also open new principles for cancer therapy," the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute in Sweden said in its citation.
The final choice for physiology or medicine was made in a morning vote by the 50 professors at Stockholm's prestigious Karolinska Institute who make up the Nobel Assembly.
The winners, who will share the prize worth £645,000, are always shrouded in suspense and speculation, with awarding institutions sticking to traditions of secrecy that have been fine-tuned over the past century.
The winners are selected from nominations received from professors, past laureates and other specialists from around the world.
AP