Nobel winner quits charity for job in US

One of Britain's leading scientists resigned yesterday from his job as chief executive of the biggest UK cancer charity to become head of a prestigious American university.

Paul Nurse, 53, who won the Nobel prize for medicine in 2001, has announced that he will become the new president of Rockefeller University in New York. He was appointed chief executive of Cancer Research UK less than a year ago.

Sir Paul has overseen the merger of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, which he led for four years, with the Cancer Research Campaign to form Cancer Research UK, which raises some £176m a year for scientific research.

A spokeswoman for the charity said that the appointment with Rockefeller, which boasts 21 Nobel prizes, begins in November.