Nobel Chemistry at Lindahl, Modrich and Sancar: their studies have revealed the mechanisms of DNA repair – Il Sole 24 Ore

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This article was published on 7 October 2015 at 24:12.
The last change is the October 7, 2015 at 13:30.

The 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Tomas Lindahl, Paul Modrich and Aziz Sancar for mechanistic studies of DNA repair. This was announced by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2015 and then went to the discovery of the “toolbox” to repair the DNA, which is located within cells. The three researchers have had the merit to reconstruct the way in which cells fail to repair the damage occurring in DNA. Their discoveries have opened the door to new cancer treatments.

As stated in the reasons for the award, the prestigious scientific recognition was awarded “for having mapped, at the molecular level, how cells repair damaged DNA and will safeguard the genetic information.” “Their work – continues in the grounds – provided basic knowledge of how a living cell and is, for example, used for the development of new cancer treatments.”

The mechanism awarded with the Nobel is what allows the cells to maintain balance in the genetic information that controls, safeguarding it from “aggression” external that may alter, such as those caused by ultraviolet rays, free radicals or carcinogens. The same toolkit allows cells to repair the damage also occurring spontaneously in the molecule of life. The latter, in fact, is inherently unstable. All together, the external dangers and spontaneous mutations can result in thousands of changes every day. Not to mention the mistakes that occur every time the molecule of DNA is duplicated during the process of cell division, which occurs millions of times every day.

To curb this real molecular chaos is the kit of “ER” found inside the cells and the three researchers awarded the Nobel is credited with having “opened the toolbox,” identifying key molecular mechanisms by which cells repair the DNA. It was a revolutionary discovery because until the early ’70s did not even suspect that the world of the cells was so busy and chaotic. Indeed, there was the belief that the DNA molecule was very stable.

It was Lindal to prove them wrong and, after him, and Sancar Modrich have described the first repair mechanisms.

The Swedish Tomas Lindahl , 77, was born in 1938 in Stockholm, where he works in the Institute Karolinska. He taught chemistry and medical physiology at the University of Gothenburg from 1978 to 1982. He is director of the group of professors emeritus of the Institute and Francis Crick direttor emeritus of the Center for Cancer Research UK at the Clare Hall Laboratory.

Paul Modrich , 69, is an American citizen. Born in 1946, he studied at Stanford University and worked at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Professor of Biochemistry in the Duke University School.

Aziz Sancar , 69, who has dual American and Turkish citizenship, was born in Turkey, Savur, in 1946. He studied in the United States, Dallas, and is professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of North Carolina.

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