Paul L. Modrich facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Paul Modrich
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Paul L. Modrich in December 2015
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Paul Lawrence Modrich
June 13, 1946 Raton, New Mexico, U.S.
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| Alma mater | MIT Stanford University (PhD) |
| Known for | Clarification of cellular resistance to carcinogens Modrich–Lehman unit |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | DNA mismatch repair |
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| Thesis | Structure, mechanism and biological role of E. coli DNA ligase (1973) |
| Doctoral advisor | Robert Lehman |
Paul Lawrence Modrich (born June 13, 1946) is an American biochemist. He is a professor of Biochemistry at Duke University. He also works as an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Modrich is famous for his important research on how DNA fixes its own mistakes. This process is called DNA mismatch repair. For his work, he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2015. He shared the prize with two other scientists, Aziz Sancar and Tomas Lindahl.
Early life and education
Paul Modrich was born on June 13, 1946, in Raton, New Mexico. His father, Laurence Modrich, was a biology teacher and a coach. Paul graduated from Raton High School in 1964.
He went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and earned a bachelor's degree in 1968. Later, he got his PhD from Stanford University in 1973. After that, he did more research at Harvard Medical School for a year. In 1980, Paul Modrich married Vickers Burdett, who is also a scientist.
Research and discoveries
In 1974, Modrich started working as a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Two years later, in 1976, he joined Duke University. Since 1995, he has also been an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
His main research focuses on something called "strand-directed mismatch repair." Think of DNA as a very long instruction book for our bodies. Sometimes, when DNA copies itself, tiny mistakes can happen. These mistakes are called "mismatches."
Paul Modrich's lab showed that DNA has a special "spell checker" system. This system finds and fixes those mistakes. It's like an editor that makes sure the DNA copy is perfect. This repair system is very important because it helps prevent errors that can lead to diseases like cancer.
He first studied how this repair system works in a type of bacteria called E. coli. Later, his team looked for the proteins that do this important job in humans.
Awards and honors
Paul Modrich has received many important awards for his scientific work. Some of these include:
- 1983: Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry
- 1996: General Motors Charles S. Mott Prize in Cancer Research
- 2015: Nobel Prize in Chemistry
He is also a member of important scientific groups. These include the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences.
See also
In Spanish: Paul L. Modrich para niños
