The "Hunt" for Cyclin

In the early 1980s, much was known about hairspray, big hair, and questionable fashion. However, in the world of cell biology, little was know how exactly the process that allowed cells to divide was regulated. Enter Tim Hunt and a lab full of eager Physiology students that spent their summer radio labeling sea urchin eggs that they had collected from the nearby sea. They noticed something strange on their protein gels, a protein (later to be named cyclin) would accumulate and then disappear at the onset of cell division. This discovery would set into motion thousands of experiments and one Nobel Prize that led to the discovery of the fundamental mechanism of cell division. This discovery has had far reaching implications in the fields of developmental, cell, and cancer biology to name a few. This classic experiment, although simple, was cleverly designed and allowed the capture of one of the most studied processes in all of science.

• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0092867483904208