Turkish Nobel laureate claims groundbreaking discovery on cancer research

By Selma Kasap and Sefa Sahin

ANKARA (AA) – Turkish Nobel laureate Aziz Sancar said he has made a "very exciting" new discovery in cancer research.

"This study is about DNA repair and it is a new method. I will be able to transfer the new method to Turkiye within a year," Sancar told Anadolu Agency at an event in Ankara.

Sancar was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with Tomas Lindahl and Paul Modrich for their mechanistic studies of DNA repair.

He is best known for his groundbreaking discovery on the mechanisms used by bacteria and humans to find, remove and repair ultraviolet- (UV) and chemically-damaged DNA. These discoveries have increased scientific understanding of how the living cell works, the causes of cancer, and aging processes.

Sancar was born in 1946 in Mardin, southeastern Turkiye, to parents who had no education.

Sancar studied at Istanbul University and at the University of Texas, Dallas, where he received his doctorate in 1977. He is a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill.

He is married to Gwen Boles Sancar, who is also a professor in biochemistry and biophysics.

* Writing by Zehra Nur Duz