"It was at Woods Hole around July 1982, using Arbacia sea urchin eggs as his model organism, that he discovered cyclin proteins.^[12] Cyclins play a key role in regulating the cell-division cycle.^[16] Hunt was observing the eggs undergo cell division after fertilization.^[17] The study also included a control group where the eggs had been activated without fertilization by a calcium ionophore. The eggs were incubated with the amino acid methionine in which some of the atoms were radioactive isotopes (radiolabelled), with samples being taken from the eggs at 10 minute intervals. During the egg development, the radioactive methionine was uptaken into the cells and used to make proteins. From the samples, proteins were precipitated and then separated by mass into distinct bands on a resolving gel mat, which were then observed by photographic film that could detect the radioactivity emitted by the proteins. Observing the changes in the bands across the samples, Hunt noticed that one of the proteins rose in abundance before disappearing during the mitosis phase of cell division.^[15] Hunt named the protein "cyclin" based on his observation of the cyclical changes in its levels.^[18] It was later discovered that cyclins are continuously synthesised, but are specifically targeted for proteolysis during mitosis.^[15] The discovery of cyclins was reported in a study published in Cell in 1983." (Wikipedia article on Tim Hunt).
Order of authorship in the original publication: Evans, Rosenthal, Youngbloom, Distel, Hunt.

In 2001 2001 Tim Hunt shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Leland Hartwell and Sir Paul M. Nurse "for their discoveries of key regulators of the cell cycle."