"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"

In this quote, Paul Nurse, a renowned geneticist and cell biologist, is explaining his research study efforts focused on illuminating the systems controlling the development of the cell cycle. The cell cycle is a highly controlled series of events that result in cellular division and duplication, and understanding it is crucial for insights into developmental biology and illness such as cancer.

Nurse's efforts were focused on identifying the rate managing actions within this cycle. These steps are important phases or checkpoints that control the timing and progression of the cycle, ensuring that each phase is finished effectively before moving on to the next. If any of these actions are bypassed or malfunction, it can lead to unchecked cell expansion or other cellular dysfunctions.

The reference of "wee mutants" describes a particular group of mutants that Nurse studied, particularly in the fission yeast * Schizosaccharomyces pombe *. These mutants were critical to his research. The term "wee" is descriptive of the mutants' phenotype-- they are defined by a smaller than normal cell size. This takes place because, in the wee mutants, specific regulative systems are modified, triggering cells to advance through the cycle too soon and divide before reaching the normal important size required for division.

The study of these mutants contributed in determining key regulatory proteins such as the Wee1 kinase. Wee1 plays an important role in controlling the size at which cells divide, basically acting as a checkpoint in the cell cycle. Its discovery assisted establish the idea that particular regulative proteins and kinases modulate the activity and timing of the cell cycle, influencing cellular growth and department.

Through analyzing these wee mutants, Nurse had the ability to advance the understanding of how cells manage their division and preserve correct size, contributing substantially to the field of cell biology and making acknowledgment such as the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2001 for his pioneering work on the cell cycle.