Aziz Sancar, Turkey’s first Nobel in science

Aziz Sancar, a biochemist at the University of North Carolina, speaks during a press conference on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2015 in Chapel Hill, N.C. (Christine T. Nguyen/The Herald-Sun via AP)

In its second Nobel Prize win, Turkey secured its first Nobel in science, most specifically, chemistry, with Aziz Sancar. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with Tomas Lindahl and Paul L. Modrich for their mechanistic studies of DNA repair.

Sancar, 69 years, holds both American and Turkish citizenship, has 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.

He’s also the co-founder of the Aziz and Gwen Sancar Foundation, a non-profit organization to promote Turkish culture and to support Turkish students and in the United States, which he co-founded with his wife and fellow biochemist Gwen Boles Sancar.

Coming from a Kurdish low-class family, with illiterate parents and seven brothers, he has come a long way after studying in Istanbul University and getting his PhD from University of Texas. He was honored with membership of the Turkish Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

His longest-running study has involved photolyase and the mechanisms of photo-reactivation. In his inaugural article in the PNAS, Sancar captures the elusive photolyase radicals he has chased for nearly 20 years, thus providing direct observation of the photocycle for thymine dimer repair.

Upon hearing the news he expressed his delight for his country that he won the prize and his pride in Orhan Pamuk being the first Turkish to win it, saying “I am of course honored to get this recognition for all the work I’ve done over the years, but I’m also proud for my family and for my native country and my adopted country, and especially for Turkey it’s quite important.”

He talked more about his winning discovery, studies of DNA repair, saying “they’re also important in cancer treatment because many of the anti-cancer drugs do damage DNA and whether cancer cells can repair it or not could influence how cancer is treated.”