30/05/2016
2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry Laureate Professor Aziz Sancar gave a lecture titled "The mechanistic fundamentals of DNA repair" at Sabancı University on Thursday, May 26, 2016. Professor Sancar told Sabancı University students about his 35-year work on how cells repair damaged DNAs and preserve genetic information that won him the 2015 Nobel Prize.
Professor Sancar, winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with his work on mapping how cells repair damaged DNAs and preserve genetic information, met with Sabancı University students and faculty on the Sabancı University campus.In an event hosted by Sabancı University President Professor Nihat Berker, Sancar gave a lecture titled “The mechanistic fundamentals of DNA repair”. In his lighthearted lecture, Professor Sancar shared his life's work that brought him the Nobel Prize with students. The conference hall was packed.
Turkish-American scientist Aziz Sancar is a Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of North Carolina, and his work contributes to the development of new cancer treatments as well.
About Professor Sancar
Sancar was born as the seventh of eight siblings of a family who were ethnic Turks but spoke Arabic in the Savur township of Mardin. Although both his parents were illiterate, Sancar says "They knew about the importance of education and did everything they could so each of their children could be educated." Sancar completed his primary education in Mardin. He was a good student and a successful goalkeeper in the school football team, as a result of which he was called to Junior National Football Team tryouts.
Sancar started the Istanbul Medical School in 1963, graduated in 1969, and was a general practitioner in the Savur dispensary for two years. He then completed a PhD on Molecular Biology at the University of Texas in Dallas. He became an associate professor in Yale University with a dissertation on DNA repair. He continued his studies on DNA repair, cell sequences, cancer treatment and biological clock. He has authored 415 scientific articles and 33 books.
Aziz Sancar is married to Gwen Boles Sancar, who is similarly a professor of biochemistry. The Sancars have established the Aziz & Gwen Sancar Foundation to help Turkish students in the US and develop Turkish-American relationships. The Foundation operates a student guesthouse called "Carolina Turkish Home" in North Carolina, US.
The first welcoming to Aziz Sancar by our alumni Gamze Günal Sadık (Molecular Biology,Genetics and Bioengineering, Master, 2009) and her baby Ahmet Can Sadık.
