Nobel Prize 2015
By: Tristen Broadfoot, Abbie Carek, and Jinah Choe
-DNA damage and repair-
Tomas Lindahl
Scientific info-
Name: Tomas Lindahl
Born: January 28, 1938 in Stockholm, Sweden
Death: N/A currently 77 years old
Education:Princeton University, Karolinska Institutet, and Rockefeller University
Work: Clare Hall Laboratories 1986-2005
Field of Study: DNA damage and repair
Fact: First swede to receive chemistry Nobel Prize in 67 years
What did they do-
Studied DNA decay
Discovered that Glycosylase (a family of enzymes in DNA that break down substances, starts the reaction) led to repair enzymes
- Results: characterized different DNA repair pathways to provide a better understanding of the cellular defense mechanisms against damage to the human genome.
Paul Modrich
Scientific info-
Name: Paul Modrich
Born: June 13, 1946/ Raton, New Mexico
Death: N/A currently 69 yrs old
Education: PH D- Stanford university 1973 / BS (bachelor of science)- Massachusetts institute of technology 1968
Work: Howard Hughes medical institute Durham, NC, USA / Duke University school of medicine Durham, NC, USA
Field of Study: mechanisms in e coli and human mismatch repair/ nucleic acid biochem/ cancer biology/ DNA damage and repair
Facts: other awards won-
Fellows-American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 2004
Member- Institute of Medicine of The National Academies. 2003
Investigator/Alumni Investigator-Howard Hughes Medical Institute. 1994
Members/ Foreign Associates- National Academy of Science. 1993
What did they do-
Showed how a cell corrects errors that occur when Dna is replicated during cell division
His laboratory determined how mismatch repair works in E. coli, and then clarified the mechanism of the reaction in human cells.
Modrich’s lab also found that cancers that lack the mismatch repair are resistant to certain chemotherapeutic drugs, which has implications for treatment protocols.
- Results: Modrich’s work also has shown that inactivation of this mismatch repair system is the cause of the most common form of hereditary colon cancer, and that repair errors also play an important role in the development of a number of neurodegenerative (loss of neurons) diseases( Parkinson's, Alzheimer's) and 20-30% of tumors found in many tissues.
Aziz Sancar
Scientific info-
Birth: Sep. 8 1946
Death: N/A currently 69
Education: M.D. Instanbul university/ Ph.D University of Texas at Dallas
Work: Professor of Biochemistry at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Fields of Study: Biochemistry, Molecular biology, DNA repair, Molecular biophysics, Cancer research
Facts: awarded TÜBITAK science award and Vehbi Koç award
What did they do-
- Studied DNA Photolyases, a reaction that uses light to repair pyrimidine dimers (parts of DNA linked by sunlight) by breaking the cyclobutane ring (a carbon compound), joining the pyrimidines (things that make up DNA).
Why Did They Win...
Helped people understand how DNA repaired itself, helped people also understand the diseases and effects of having non working mismatch repair systems
Explained previous knowledge of DNA
Can lead to understand how to prevent cancer cells from repairing, can lead to people understand the importance about this mechanism (mismatch repair/ Dna repair)
- Future impact: can lead to curing cancer, can lead to preventing neurodegenerative (loss of neurons) diseases like Alzheimer's.