Paul L. Modrich

{{short description|American biochemist and Nobel Laureate (born 1946)}}

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Paul Modrich

| image = Paul L. Modrich 0116.jpg

| caption = Paul L. Modrich in December 2015

| birth_name = Paul Lawrence Modrich

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1946|6|13}}

| birth_place = Raton, New Mexico, U.S.

| alma_mater = MIT
Stanford University (PhD)

| known_for = {{no wrap|Clarification of cellular resistance to carcinogens}}
Modrich–Lehman unit

| website = {{URL|https://scholars.duke.edu/person/modrich}}

| field = DNA mismatch repair

| work_institution = {{Plainlist|

| thesis_title = Structure, mechanism and biological role of E. coli DNA ligase

| thesis_url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/302672886/

| thesis_year = 1973

| doctoral_advisor = Robert Lehman

| prizes = {{Plainlist|

Regeneron Science Talent Search (1964)
Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Awards (1977)
Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry (1983)
{{no wrap|Member of the National Academy of Sciences (1993)}}
Charles S. Mott Prize (1996)
Pasarow Award (1998)
Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2015)
North Carolina Award (2016)
Mendel Lecture (2017)}}

}}

Paul Lawrence Modrich (born June 13, 1946) is an American biochemist, James B. Duke Professor of Biochemistry at Duke University and Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He is known for his research on DNA mismatch repair.{{cite news|title=Paul Modrich Awarded 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry|url=http://www.hhmi.org/news/paul-modrich-awarded-2015-nobel-prize-chemistry|access-date=December 13, 2015|agency=HHMI|publisher=HHMI|date=October 7, 2015}} Modrich received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2015, jointly with Aziz Sancar and Tomas Lindahl.{{Cite news|title=Nobel Prize in Chemistry Awarded to Tomas Lindahl, Paul Modrich and Aziz Sancar for DNA Studies|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/08/science/tomas-lindahl-paul-modrich-aziz-sancarn-nobel-chemistry.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date=October 7, 2015|access-date=December 13, 2015|issn=0362-4331|first=William J.|last = Broad}}{{cite news|author=Staff|title=THE NOBEL PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY 2015 – DNA repair – providing chemical stability for life|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2015/popular-chemistryprize2015.pdf|date=October 7, 2015|work=Nobel Prize|access-date=December 13, 2015}}

Early life and education

File:Paul Modrich.webm

Modrich was born on June 13, 1946, in Raton, New Mexico to Laurence Modrich and Margaret McTurk.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2015/modrich/biographical/|title=Paul Modrich – Biographical|website=nobelprize.org|access-date=2016-11-16}} He has a younger brother Dave.{{Cite news|url=http://www.taosnews.com/news/childhood-in-raton-helped-shape-life-of-nobel-winner-in/article_aa4a1b7e-6dbd-11e5-b2ff-4b27bd157bb1.html|title=Childhood in Raton helped shape life of Nobel winner in chemistry|last=Simonich|first=Milan|date=2015-10-08|newspaper=The Taos News|access-date=2016-10-09}}{{Dead link|date=May 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} His father was a biology teacher and coach for basketball, football and tennis at Raton High School where he graduated in 1964. Modrich is of Croatian, Montenegrin, German and Scottish (Gaelic)[https://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/McTurk Last name: McTurk ] origin. His paternal grandfather, of Croatian descent,{{Cite news|url=https://isabs.hr/news/plenkovic-welcomed-an-american-nobel-prize-winner-of-croatian-origin-who-is-responsible-for-one-of-the-most-important-discoveries-in-medicine-history-this-was-modrichs-first-visit-to-the-hom/|title=Plenkovic welcomed an American Nobel Prize winner of Croatian origin who is responsible for one of the most important discoveries in medicine history: This was Modrich's first visit to the homeland of his ancestors|publisher=International Society for Applied Biological Sciences|access-date=2020-12-05}} is probably from the small village of Modrići near Zadar,{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mJV2ya7tcA |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/0mJV2ya7tcA |archive-date=2021-12-15 |url-status=live|title=Večer S Nobelovcima – Nobel Spirit 2 (ISABS 2019)|publisher=Hrvatska radiotelevizija & Dragan Primorac|website=YouTube|quote=...my wife and I, we visited the village yesterday where my grandparent, grandfather may have been born, Modrići, I believe it is called|access-date=2019-06-19}}{{cbignore}} and grandmother of Montenegrin descent, both immigrated to the United States from coastal Croatia in the late 19th century.{{cite news|title=Nobelovac Modrich za tportal: Djed mi je bio Hrvat |trans-title=Nobel laureate Modrich for tportal: My grandfather was a Croat|url=http://www.tportal.hr/vijesti/znanost/401989/Nobelovac-Modrich-za-tportal-Djed-mi-je-bio-Hrvat.html|author=Nenad Jarić Dauenhauer|date=October 26, 2015|work=tportal.hr|publisher=T-Hrvatski Telekom|access-date=December 13, 2015}} His maternal family is of mixed German and Scotch-Irish descent. Modrich married fellow scientist Vickers Burdett in 1980.{{Cite news|url=http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article51568805.html|title=For Paul Modrich, frenzy and failures yield truths|newspaper=News & Observer|access-date=2016-10-09}}

Modrich obtained a B.S. degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1968 and subsequently a Ph.D. degree from Stanford University in 1973. He continued his research as a postdoc in the lab of Charles C. Richardson at Harvard Medical School for a year (1973–1974).

Research

Modrich became an assistant professor at the chemistry department of University of California, Berkeley in 1974. He joined Duke University's faculty in 1976 and has been a Howard Hughes Investigator since 1995. He works primarily on strand-directed mismatch repair. His lab demonstrated how DNA mismatch repair serves as a copyeditor to prevent errors from DNA polymerase. Matthew Meselson previously proposed the existence of recognition of mismatches. Modrich performed biochemical experiments to study mismatch repair in E. coli.{{cite journal|last1=Su|first1=SS|last2=Modrich|first2=P|title=Escherichia coli mutS-encoded protein binds to mismatched DNA base pairs.|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|date=July 1986|volume=83|issue=14|pages=5057–61|pmid=3014530|doi=10.1073/pnas.83.14.5057|pmc=323889|bibcode=1986PNAS...83.5057S|doi-access=free}} They later searched for proteins associated with mismatch repair in humans.

Honors and awards

Honors and awards received by Modrich include:{{cite web|url=https://med.stanford.edu/alumni/alumni-community/class-notes/PaulModrich.html|title=Paul L. Modrich (PhD '73)|publisher=Stanford Medicine Alumni Association|access-date= 30 November 2018}}

1983: Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry
1996: General Motors Charles S. Mott Prize in Cancer Research
1998: Robert J. and Claire Pasarow Foundation Medical Research Award for cancer research
2000 Feodor Lynen Medal
2005: American Cancer Society Medal of Honor
2015: Nobel Prize in Chemistry
2016: Arthur Kornberg and Paul Berg Lifetime Achievement Award in Biomedical Sciences

Modrich is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences.