Human gene editing offers great promise for improving human health and well-being but it also raises significant ethical and societal issues, it is vital that we have a well-informed international debate about the potential benefits and risks, and this summit can hopefully set the tone for that discussion.

Paul Nurse

Categorized in : Healthcare

I was never very good at exams, having a poor memory and finding the examination process rather artificial, and there never seemed to be enough time to follow up things that really interested me.

enough-time examination memories

I think it was this curiosity about the natural world which awoke... by Paul Nurse

I think it was this curiosity about the natural world which awoke my early interest in science.

curiosity world thinking

Scientific understanding is often beautiful, a profoundly aesthetic experience which gives pleasure not unlike the reading of a great poem.

reading beautiful giving

It has been a privilege to pursue knowledge for its own sake and to see how it might help mankind in more practical ways.

privilege sake might

Like many students, I found the drudgery of real experiments and the slowness of progress a complete shock, and at my low points I contemplated other alternative careers including study of the philosophy or sociology of science.

careers real philosophy

My parents were born in Norfolk and spent their early years working in the big houses of that rural English county, my mother as a cook and my father as a handyman and chauffeur.

mother father years

My parents were neither wealthy nor academic, but we lived comfortably and they were always extremely supportive of my academic efforts and aspirations, both at school and university.

effort parent school

After an extensive interview he arranged for my weaknesses in foreign languages to be over-looked and so I started a Biology degree at Birmingham in 1967.

degrees interviews weakness

Therefore, I reasoned that study of the cell cycle responsible for the reproduction of cells was important and might even be illuminating about the nature of life.

cells important might

This possibility bothered me as I thought it was not advisable to remain in one academic environment, and the long dark winters in Edinburgh could be rather dismal.

dark winter long

This time at Birmingham turned me into a general biologist, and ever since then I have always tried to take a biological approach to any research project that I have undertaken.

birmingham projects research

How scientists go about their job: and it's a process, it's a question of asking questions, respecting observation, respecting experiment, having tentative explanations and then testing them.... There is a problem sometimes with how we teach science at schools. Because we sometimes teach it as if it has been chiseled in stone.

asking-questions jobs school

I was by far the youngest of the family, and at times it was like... by Paul Nurse

I was by far the youngest of the family, and at times it was like being an only child.

youngest-child only-child children

I met my wife Anne who was a sociology student, and her influence together with activities associated with the student movement of the time opened up my interests amongst other things into the theatre, art, music, politics and philosophy.

wife philosophy art

It was during my time at secondary school that I abandoned religi... by Paul Nurse

It was during my time at secondary school that I abandoned religion.

abandoned my-time school

At age 11 in 1960, I moved to an academic state secondary school, Harrow County Grammar School for Boys.

age boys school

I have an idealistic view of science as a liberalising and progre... by Paul Nurse

I have an idealistic view of science as a liberalising and progressive force for humanity.

progressive humanity views

My main efforts focussed on trying to identify the rate controlling steps during the cell cycle. Crucial for this analysis were wee mutants that were advanced prematurely through the cell cycle and so divided at a reduced cell size.

marijuana effort cells

Better understanding of the natural world not only enhances all of us as human beings, but can also be harnessed for the better good, leading to improved health and quality of life.

quality understanding world

During the winter my attention was attracted to the changes in th... by Paul Nurse

During the winter my attention was attracted to the changes in the stars and planets in the sky.

stars sky winter