{{short description|American biochemist and Nobel laureate (born 1946)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2015}} {{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<br>Stanford University (PhD) | known_for = {{no wrap|Clarification of cellular resistance to carcinogens}}<br>Modrich–Lehman unit | website = {{URL|https://scholars.duke.edu/person/modrich}} | field = DNA mismatch repair | work_institution = {{Plainlist| * Duke University * Howard Hughes Medical Institute * University of California, Berkeley}} | 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.<ref name=HHMI>{{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}}</ref> Modrich received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2015, jointly with Aziz Sancar and Tomas Lindahl.<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref name="NP-20151007">{{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}}</ref>
==Early life and education== thumbtime=1|thumb|Paul Modrich presenting himself Modrich was born on June 13, 1946, in Raton, New Mexico to Laurence Modrich and Margaret McTurk.<ref name="NobelBio">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2015/modrich/biographical/|title=Paul Modrich – Biographical|website=nobelprize.org|access-date=2016-11-16}}</ref> He has a younger brother Dave.<ref name=":0">{{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 }}</ref> His father was a biology teacher and coach for basketball, football and tennis at Raton High School where he graduated in 1964.<ref name=":0" /> Modrich is of Croatian, Montenegrin, German and Scottish (Gaelic)<ref>[https://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/McTurk Last name: McTurk ]</ref> origin. His paternal grandfather, of Croatian descent,<ref>{{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}}</ref> is probably from the small village of Modrići near Zadar,<ref>{{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}}</ref> and grandmother of Montenegrin descent, both immigrated to the United States from coastal Croatia in the late 19th century.<ref name="NobelBio"/><ref name="Tportal">{{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}}</ref> His maternal family is of mixed German and Scotch-Irish descent.<ref name="NobelBio"/> Modrich married fellow scientist Vickers Burdett in 1980.<ref>{{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}}</ref>
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).<ref name="NobelBio"/>
==Research== Modrich became an assistant professor at the chemistry department of University of California, Berkeley in 1974.<ref name="NobelBio"/> 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''.<ref>{{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}}</ref> They later searched for proteins associated with mismatch repair in humans.<ref name=HHMI/>
== Honors and awards == Honors and awards received by Modrich include:<ref>{{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}}</ref>
*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.
==References== {{reflist}}
== External links == * {{Nobelprize}} {{Nobel Prize in Chemistry}} {{2015 Nobel Prize winners}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Modrich, Paul L.}} Category:1946 births Category:Nobel laureates in Chemistry Category:Duke University faculty Category:American people of Croatian descent Category:American people of Montenegrin descent Category:American people of German descent Category:American people of Scotch-Irish descent Category:Stanford University alumni Category:American Nobel laureates Category:American biochemists Category:Howard Hughes Medical Investigators Category:Living people Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Category:People from Raton, New Mexico Category:Articles containing video clips Category:Members of the National Academy of Medicine