3rd Ld Writethru: Three scientists share 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Three scientists share 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced Wednesday.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2015 was awarded jointly to Tomas Lindahl, Paul Modrich and Aziz Sancar "for mechanistic studies of DNA repair," that is for having mapped at a molecular level how cells repair damaged DNA and safeguard genetic information.

"Their work has provided fundamental knowledge of how a living cell functions and is, for instance, used for the development of new cancer treatments," an official statement said.

In a telephone interview after the announcement, Lindahl said he was "surprised and proud to be selected" for the prize this year. Recalling why he chose this field of research, Lindahl said it is "important to have DNA repair, as damages in cells are unavoidable."

"As we understand the mechanism better," it provides "better hope" for cancer treatments, said Lindahl, talking about the potential applications of his discovery.

Each day, DNA is damaged by UV radiation, free radicals and other carcinogenic substances, but even without such external attacks, a DNA molecule is inherently unstable. Thousands of spontaneous changes to a cell's genome occur on a daily basis. Furthermore, defects can also arise when DNA is copied during cell division, a process that occurs several million times every day in the human body, according to the statement.

The reason our genetic material does not disintegrate into complete chemical chaos is that a host of molecular systems continuously monitor and repair DNA.

The Nobel Committee said the winners' work "has provided fundamental knowledge of how a living cell functions and is, for instance, used for the development of new cancer treatments."

This year's prize is 8 million SEK (about 0.96 million U.S. dollars), which will be shared equally among the laureates. Endit