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Former U. postdoctoral researcher wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Tomas Lindahl, who worked on his postdoctoral research at the University, received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry on Wednesday for mapping how cells repair DNA.

Lindahl is currently a researcher at the Francis Crick Institute and Clare Hall Laboratory in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom.He won the award alongside Duke University School of Medicine professor Paul Modrich and University of Carolina at Chapel Hill professor Aziz Sancar.

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While at the University in the mid-1960s, Lindahl discovered that RNA, a macromolecule closely related to DNA, is vulnerable to heat damage. Lindahl conducted research under Jacques Fresco, the Damon B. Pfeiffer Professor in the Life Sciences Emeritus.

Lindahl received his doctoral degree from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden in 1967.

“It’s always nice at the end of your career to have recognition that what you have done is actually important,” Lindahl said in a press conference on Wednesday at the Francis Crick Institute. "It is very gratifying. We are doing basic research. We are not in it to make money. We do something constructive that we hope will really help mankind."

Lindahl was not available for comment.The Royal Swedish Academy of Science did not respond to a request for comment.

A native of Sweden, Lindahl extensively researched the mechanisms of DNA repair that have profound implications for cancer treatment and aging. Before Lindahl’s research, the orthodox view among the scientific community held that DNA was a highly stable molecule. However, Lindahl showed that by itself, the DNA molecule would degrade so rapidly that it could not have sustained life on earth.

Lindahl subsequently became first to isolate a mammalian DNA ligase, a critical enzyme in bridging fragmented DNA that can result from ultraviolet radiation damage. He later discovered other molecular factors in the DNA repair machinery and found that the absence of these factors results in immunodeficiency and/or malignancy.

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“He was one of the first scientists to spot the process of DNA repair — something we now know plays a fundamental role in the development of cancer,” Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK’s chief executive, said at the press conference. "His work led to a deeper understanding of why the disease develops and, crucially for patients, treatments that target cancer’s weak spots in DNA repair."

At the same event, Sir Paul Nurse, Director of the Francis Crick Institute, said he is delighted thatLindahl was recognised for his work on DNA.

"As director of the Clare Hall Laboratory of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund and then Cancer Research UK from 1986 to 2005, Tomas has been an inspiration to his colleagues and peers for decades,"Nurse said. "This honor is most richly deserved.”

Lindahl is the fourth recipient of the Nobel Prize in chemistry to have studied or taught at the University.

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Among other experiences, Lindahl has been elected as a founding fellow of the National Academy of Medical Sciences and was awarded the Royal Society’s Royal Medal in 2007.