A Nobel Prize winner has added a new honor to his list of accomplishments — recipient of the 2024 Block Lectureship Award. Sir Paul Nurse, OM, CH, FRS, was named the 26th winner of the Herbert and Maxine Block Memorial Lectureship Award for Distinguished Achievement in Cancer for his pioneering work in improving understanding of the cell division process. Sir Paul shared the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with two other scientists for their discoveries of protein molecules that control cell division, which has helped doctors and researchers create treatments and techniques. “It's not that what we discovered provides a cure for cancer, but what it does is it provides an intellectual framework which helps you think about the ways you can treat and cure cancer,” Sir Paul says. “It's the roadmap for curing cancer. Without it, you don't know where you're going.” Click here to learn more about the Block Memorial Lectureship Award. The Block Award provides Sir Paul with $50,000 for his research, as well as the opportunity to mentor a faculty member at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James). This year’s Junior Faculty Award winner is Li Chun Tu, PhD, who also receives $25,000 to fund her research. “I study human genome organization and function in live cells,” Dr. Tu says. “We use technology that I developed years ago that can look at how the genomes are being organized in normal and versus cancer cells, and then we try to manipulate the important factors to see whether we can try to reverse the mistake that has occurred.” As an awardee, Nurse was able to choose his mentee. He selected Dr. Tu because of their shared interests, and their ability to learn from one another. “She's clearly a discovery scientist trying to discover new things, which is what I do,” Nurse says. “I thought my experiences might be useful, but more selfishly, I thought I might learn from her, because I'm interested in what she's doing. These sorts of relationships are reciprocal.” Dr. Tu is excited to learn from Sir Paul’s experience and expertise, not only to benefit her research, but also to help her explain her work to audiences within and outside of her field. “I'm looking forward to my interactions with Sir Paul. I truly believe that he's going to help me move forward as a scientist,” she says. “You want the scientific community to understand your work, but also more broadly, maybe high school students, and as many people as possible.” Click here to learn more about cellular therapy at the OSUCCC – James.