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Three researchers have won this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry for mechanistic studies of DNA repair.
Tomas Lindahl, MD, PhD, Paul Modrich, PhD, and Aziz Sancar, MD, PhD, each mapped how DNA repair systems function at a detailed molecular level.
Their work has provided insight into how cells function, knowledge that can be used in the development of new cancer treatments, among other applications.
In the early 1970s, scientists believed that DNA was an extremely stable molecule, but Dr Lindahl demonstrated that DNA decays at a rate that ought to have made life on Earth impossible.
This insight led to the discovery of molecular machinery known as base excision repair, which constantly counteracts the collapse of our DNA.
For his part, Dr Sancar mapped nucleotide excision repair, the mechanism that cells use to repair UV damage to DNA.
People born with defects in this repair system will develop skin cancer if they are exposed to sunlight. The cell also utilizes nucleotide excision repair to correct defects caused by mutagenic substances, among other things.
Dr Modrich demonstrated how the cell corrects errors that occur when DNA is replicated during cell division.
This mechanism, mismatch repair, reduces the error frequency during DNA replication by about a thousand-fold. Congenital defects in mismatch repair are known, for example, to cause a hereditary variant of colon cancer.
About the winners
Tomas Lindahl was born in 1938 in Stockholm, Sweden. He earned his PhD in 1967 and his MD in 1970, both from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. He is currently emeritus group leader at the Francis Crick Institute in London, UK.
Paul Modrich was born in 1946. In 1973, he earned his PhD from Stanford University in California. He is currently an investigator at Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and a professor at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina.
Aziz Sancar was born in 1946 in Savur, Turkey. He earned his MD in 1969 from Istanbul University in Turkey and his PhD in 1977 from the University of Texas in Dallas. He is currently a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill. 
Image by Tom Ellenberger
Three researchers have won this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry for mechanistic studies of DNA repair.
Tomas Lindahl, MD, PhD, Paul Modrich, PhD, and Aziz Sancar, MD, PhD, each mapped how DNA repair systems function at a detailed molecular level.
Their work has provided insight into how cells function, knowledge that can be used in the development of new cancer treatments, among other applications.
In the early 1970s, scientists believed that DNA was an extremely stable molecule, but Dr Lindahl demonstrated that DNA decays at a rate that ought to have made life on Earth impossible.
This insight led to the discovery of molecular machinery known as base excision repair, which constantly counteracts the collapse of our DNA.
For his part, Dr Sancar mapped nucleotide excision repair, the mechanism that cells use to repair UV damage to DNA.
People born with defects in this repair system will develop skin cancer if they are exposed to sunlight. The cell also utilizes nucleotide excision repair to correct defects caused by mutagenic substances, among other things.
Dr Modrich demonstrated how the cell corrects errors that occur when DNA is replicated during cell division.
This mechanism, mismatch repair, reduces the error frequency during DNA replication by about a thousand-fold. Congenital defects in mismatch repair are known, for example, to cause a hereditary variant of colon cancer.
About the winners
Tomas Lindahl was born in 1938 in Stockholm, Sweden. He earned his PhD in 1967 and his MD in 1970, both from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. He is currently emeritus group leader at the Francis Crick Institute in London, UK.
Paul Modrich was born in 1946. In 1973, he earned his PhD from Stanford University in California. He is currently an investigator at Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and a professor at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina.
Aziz Sancar was born in 1946 in Savur, Turkey. He earned his MD in 1969 from Istanbul University in Turkey and his PhD in 1977 from the University of Texas in Dallas. He is currently a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill.
Image by Tom Ellenberger
Three researchers have won this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry for mechanistic studies of DNA repair.
Tomas Lindahl, MD, PhD, Paul Modrich, PhD, and Aziz Sancar, MD, PhD, each mapped how DNA repair systems function at a detailed molecular level.
Their work has provided insight into how cells function, knowledge that can be used in the development of new cancer treatments, among other applications.
In the early 1970s, scientists believed that DNA was an extremely stable molecule, but Dr Lindahl demonstrated that DNA decays at a rate that ought to have made life on Earth impossible.
This insight led to the discovery of molecular machinery known as base excision repair, which constantly counteracts the collapse of our DNA.
For his part, Dr Sancar mapped nucleotide excision repair, the mechanism that cells use to repair UV damage to DNA.
People born with defects in this repair system will develop skin cancer if they are exposed to sunlight. The cell also utilizes nucleotide excision repair to correct defects caused by mutagenic substances, among other things.
Dr Modrich demonstrated how the cell corrects errors that occur when DNA is replicated during cell division.
This mechanism, mismatch repair, reduces the error frequency during DNA replication by about a thousand-fold. Congenital defects in mismatch repair are known, for example, to cause a hereditary variant of colon cancer.
About the winners
Tomas Lindahl was born in 1938 in Stockholm, Sweden. He earned his PhD in 1967 and his MD in 1970, both from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. He is currently emeritus group leader at the Francis Crick Institute in London, UK.
Paul Modrich was born in 1946. In 1973, he earned his PhD from Stanford University in California. He is currently an investigator at Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and a professor at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina.
Aziz Sancar was born in 1946 in Savur, Turkey. He earned his MD in 1969 from Istanbul University in Turkey and his PhD in 1977 from the University of Texas in Dallas. He is currently a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill.