Tomas Lindahl, Paul Modrich, and Aziz Sancar have been jointly awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, according to The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The trio had worked on a project for human DNA repair in which they were able to show how living cells are used to develop new cancer treatments.
"Their work has provided fundamental knowledge of how a living cell functions" the academy said, according to ABC News. The team will be awarded 8 million Swedish krona (more than $970,000 U.S.) evenly divided among the teammates, according to Nobel Prize.
This team "really laid the foundations for the whole field [of DNA repair]," said Alan Ashworth, president of the cancer center at the University of California, San Francisco. "These really are the fathers of the field."
"I'm sure there will be [celebrations in Turkey]," said Sancar, according to MSN. "Yes, they've been asking over the years and I was tired of hearing 'when are you going to get the Nobel Prize?' so I'm glad for my country as well."
These findings are important to cancer research, as the three researchers have been able to show that cancer cells are kept functioning and alive by DNA repair mechanisms. Now that we know that, researchers can work on a way to eliminate the repair mechanism. Olaparib, a drug that is used to fight ovarian cancer, actually fights off DNA repair mechanisms.
Nobel Prizes have been awarded every year since 1901 in these categories: chemistry, literature, medicine, physics, and peace. The money is provided by Alfred Nobel, a Swedish inventor, as a bequest, which is the property or money that you promise in your will to give to another person or organization after you die. All of the Nobel Prizes will be given out on Dec. 10, which is the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896.
