Nobel laureate Modrich accepts Nobel Prize in Stockholm Thursday

Paul Modrich, James B. Duke professor of biochemistry, accepted the Nobel Prize in Chemistry from King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden during a ceremony Thursday in Stockholm.

Modrich—the second standing faculty member in Duke’s history to win a Nobel Prize—was awarded the prize along with along with Aziz Sancar of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Tomas Lindahl of the Francis Crick Institute in the U.K. The researchers were honored for their discoveries of three different fundamental mechanisms of DNA repair—a critical process in maintaining the integrity of many organisms’ DNA. Thursday’s ceremony culminated a week of events honoring the 2015 Nobel laureates.

During the ceremony, Claes Gustafsson, a member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, outlined the history of DNA research and discussed the work of Modrich, Sancar and Lindahl.

“Your studies of DNA repair have revealed in the finest molecular detail an amazing set of repair mechanisms that ensure the integrity of our genetic material,” he told the laureates. “That is a truly great achievement.”

Each of the laureates was then presented with a diploma and a gold medal by Gustaf. In addition, Modrich, Sancar, and Lindahl will split a cash prize worth about $1.2 million.

Nobel laureates in physics, medicine, literature and economics also received their prizes during the ceremony, which was held at the Stockholm Concert Hall and included a number of musical performances. After the ceremony, the Nobel laureates attended a banquet in their honor hosted by Gustaf.

On Tuesday, Modrich and the other chemistry laureates delivered their Nobel lectures at Stockholm University, in which they discussed the technical details of their work. Before his speech, Modrich thanked the Royal Swedish Academy of Science, which selects the laureates.