Dr. Aziz Sancar is a world-renowned molecular biologist whose pioneering work on DNA repair mechanisms has fundamentally transformed our understanding of cellular biology. Born on September 8, 1946, in Savur-Mardin, Turkey, he was the seventh of eight children born to illiterate parents who nevertheless emphasized the importance of education. After graduating first in his class of 625 students with an MD from Istanbul University, he pursued doctoral studies at the University of Texas at Dallas, earning his PhD in 1977. His early scientific career included groundbreaking research at Yale University before he joined the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1982, where he has remained a cornerstone of the biochemistry department for over four decades.
Sancar's most significant contributions center on elucidating the molecular mechanisms of DNA repair, particularly through his work on photolyase and nucleotide excision repair. In 1975, he became the first scientist east of the Rocky Mountains to successfully clone a gene, specifically the photolyase gene responsible for repairing ultraviolet light-induced DNA damage. His development of the maxicell method for identifying proteins and subsequent detailed characterization of the nucleotide excision repair pathway revealed how proteins cut out damaged DNA segments and replace them with new ones. This work, which demonstrated that human nucleotide excision repair requires 15 proteins working together to remove 88-nanometer stretches of damaged DNA, earned him the 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry alongside Tomas Lindahl and Paul Modrich for their collective mechanistic studies of DNA repair.
Beyond his Nobel-winning research, Sancar maintains an active laboratory at UNC that continues to push the boundaries of DNA repair science, most recently discovering novel biochemical approaches for treating brain tumors. His rigorous systematic approach to understanding biological mechanisms down to the picosecond level has established new standards for precision in molecular biology research. As both a dedicated mentor training generations of scientists and a prolific researcher whose work continues to inform cancer treatments and our understanding of aging processes, Sancar's influence extends far beyond his own laboratory. His enduring legacy lies in fundamentally transforming how we understand cellular protection against DNA damage, with implications spanning from basic biological science to clinical applications in oncology and beyond.
