Aziz Sancar was honored with the “Ali-Shir Nava’i International Award” during the informal summit of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS), held in Budapest, Hungary.
The University of Texas at Dallas recently honored one of its most distinguished alumni, Aziz Sancar, MD, PhD’77, for his enduring impact on science and society by marking the 10th anniversary of his Nobel Prize in chemistry.
Graduate student Humeyra Kaanoglu in the Sancar Lab presented her research poster at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting in Chicago during the week of April 25-30, 2025.
Through the Fulbright program, Hümeyra Kaanoğlu pursues research with the Nobel laureate Aziz Sancar.
During a ceremony at the Aziz and Gwen Sancar Foundation Cultural Center in North Carolina, USA, on January 19, 2025, TURKSOY Secretary General Sultan Raev announced that the honorary title was conferred upon Sancar based on a unanimous decision from the TURKSOY Permanent Council of Culture Ministers.
Taking into account the petition of the General Meeting of the Department of Chemical Sciences of ANAS, an open voting was held at the General Meeting of ANAS and based on the voting results, Nobel laureate Aziz Sancar was elected an honorary member of ANAS.
Researcher in the Spotlight: Postdoc, Dr. Ashraf N. Abdo.
The sculpture “Drawn to Explain” by international artist Amalia Pica is in tribute to the teaching on Carolina’s campus and features a diagram inspired by research that won Dr. Aziz Sancar the Nobel Prize.
Congratulations to Dr. Xuemei Cao on her promotion to Research Associate on Sep 18, 2023. Dr. Cao joined Professor Sancar’s lab as a postdoc in 2018.
Medipol University’s faculty member Dr. Yasemin Kübra Akyel started to work in the laboratory and supervision of Nobel Prize-winning scientist Prof. Dr. Aziz Sancar in December 2022. Akyel works in the fields of ‘DNA Repair’ and ‘Circadian Rhythm’ and has a fellowship from the TÜBİTAK Aziz Sancar Abroad Postdoctoral Research Program.
Hub RTP breaks ground and names each street for a Nobel-awarded scientist, including Dr. Aziz Sancar (Sancar Way), whose collective discoveries paved the way for continued growth in the Park and the Triangle Region while offering advancements to the science and medical research community.
Experiments from the UNC School of Medicine lab of Nobel Prize-winning scientist Aziz Sancar, MD, PhD, show how a common molecular tool for DNA labeling also has anticancer properties worthy of further investigation, especially for brain cancers.
Congratulations to Dr. Yanyan Yang on her promotion to Research Assistant Professor on May 19, 2022. Dr. Yang joined Professor Sancar’s lab as a postdoc in 2015.
Nazli Deger successfully defended her dissertation under the direction of Dr. Aziz Sancar on January 12th, 2022 and she has received her PhD. The title of her dissertation is “Nucleotide Excision Repair Map of Drosophila Melanogaster at a Single Nucleotide Resolution”.
Turkish biochemist Aziz Sancar became the pride of Turkey after receiving the coveted Nobel Prize from Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf in 2015 for his work on how cells repair damaged DNA.
Aziz Sancar publishes his 400th scientific paper in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Congratulations to Dr. Onur Oztas, postdoctoral research associate in the Sancar lab, on his new Assistant Professor position with the Molecular Biology & Genetics Department at Koc University in Turkey.
Congratulations to Dr. Wentao Li, postdoctoral research associate in the Sancar lab, on his new Assistant Professor position with the Department of Environmental Health Science at University of Georgia.
Courtney Vaughn, graduate student of Aziz Sancar, defense title “Exploring the role of DNA damage, nucleotide excision repair, and circadian rhythm on cellular response to platinums” presented in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
UNC Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics received over $20.6 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2020. Of note, seven of our faculty (Ronald Swanstrom, Dale A. Ramsden, Bill F. Marzluff, Jean G. Cook, Aziz Sancar, Brian A. Kuhlman, and Wolfgang Bergmeier) ranked in the top 124 of most highly funded NIH investigators in 2020 for Biochemistry.
The Battle award was established in 2007 by the Battle Foundation of Rocky Mount to recognize exceptional cancer research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The lab of Aziz Sancar, MD, PhD, published a paper in the Journal of Biological Chemistry that could inform the creation of 'chronochemotherapies' - strategies using chemo to treat cancer patients at particular times of day to maximize therapeutic benefit and minimize side effects.
Aziz Sancar, MD, PhD, the winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and the Sarah Graham Kenan Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics, gifted one of 3 replicas of the Nobel Prize medal UNC. It is now on display in the newly installed numismatics exhibit at the Wilson Special Collections Library.
Congratulations to Dr. Wentao Li, postdoctoral research associate in the Sancar lab who received a highly competitive K99 Pathway to Independence Award from NIH effective September 6, 2019.
The prize honors Sancar’s work mapping the cellular mechanisms that underlie DNA repair, which occurs every minute due to environmental factors. He credited his success to his many collaborators, and to UNC’s supportive environment.
University officials joined dignitaries from Turkey and Chapel Hill town representatives Aug. 30 to celebrate the groundbreaking for the Sancar Turkish Cultural and Community Center, named for Carolina’s Nobel Prize winner Aziz Sancar and his wife, Gwen.
Wentao Li, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Aziz Sancar, has received the 2018 Environmental Mutagenesis & Genomics Society (EMGS) New Investigator Travel Award & 2018 Postdoctoral Award for Research Excellence (PARE) from UNC Office of Postdoctoral Affairs.
Courtney Vaughn, MD-PhD student in the lab of Aziz Sancar, MD, PhD, was awarded the Scott Neil Schwirck fellowship for her work studying the role of DNA damage repair and circadian rhythm in tumor response to platinum-based chemotherapy.
For the first time, UNC School of Medicine scientists led by Nobel laureate Aziz Sancar analyzed whole-genome DNA repair in an animal over 24 hours to find which genes were repaired, where exactly, and when, laying the groundwork for a more precise use of anti-cancer drugs.
The lab of UNC Nobel laureate Aziz Sancar, MD, PhD, reveals first-ever repair map of an entire multicellular organism to illuminate some interesting inner workings of the plant kingdom’s DNA highly efficient repair system.
A new technique from UNC School of Medicine scientists led by Nobel Prize winner Aziz Sancar reveals the genome-wide DNA damage that a major carcinogen causes.
Findings come from an advanced DNA sequencing application developed by the lab of University of North Carolina Nobel Laureate Aziz Sancar.
On Oct. 20, 2016, Aziz Sancar, MD, PhD, 2015 Nobel Laureate, Sarah Graham Kenan Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics, delivered the annual Norma Berryhill Distinguished Lecture.
Nobel Prize Winner Aziz Sancar, MD, PhD and Melina Kibbe, MD join only twelve current and former UNC School of Medicine faculty members in the prestigious National Academy of Medicine.
The state's highest civilian honor, the North Carolina Award, will be presented to six distinguished North Carolinians on Thursday, September 22. Congratulations to Drs. Aziz Sancar and Paul Modrich who are among the six honorees.
Dr. Aziz Sancar, Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry & Biophysics and 2015 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry earns the 2016 O. Max Gardner Award, the highest faculty honor awarded by the UNC Board of Govenors.
Each year on Independence Day, the organization publishes its list entitled “Great Immigrants: The Pride of America” to honor the accomplishments of notable immigrants. Dr. Aziz Sancar, 2015 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry is a 2016 Carnegie Corporation honoree.
Sancar, the 2015 winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, donated his prize money to a Chapel Hill foundation. Smithies donated his monetary award to four universities, including UNC.
On March 23, 2016, Carolina's two Nobel laureates, Oliver Smithies, Distinguished Professor of Pathology and Aziz Sancar, Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry & Biophysics meet with new UNC system President Margaret Spellings.
Seven hundred girls from seven cities in Turkey will engage in science, technology, engineering, and math education during a series of three-day conferences.
Congratulations to Dr. Aziz Sancar, Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry & Biophysics, who received the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Triangle Business Journal and is named as one of their Healthcare Heroes for the year.
On January 15, during Teacher Appreciation night, Aziz Sancar of UNC and Paul Modrich of Duke were honored as "Heroes of the Game" for their shared 2015 Nobel prize in chemistry.
2015 Tar Heels of the Year are Aziz Sancar of the University of North Carolina and Paul Modrich of Duke University.
In this video, learn more about Aziz Sancar, the Sarah Graham Kenan Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics and Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemisty for 2015.
The new experimental assay can help scientists find the precise locations of repair of DNA damage caused by UV radiation and common chemotherapies. The invention could lead to better cancer drugs or improvements in the potency of existing ones.
Sixteen years after scientists found the genes that control the circadian clock in all cells, the lab of UNC’s Aziz Sancar, MD, PhD, discovered the mechanisms responsible for keeping the clock in sync.
The paper titled "Mechanism of Photosignaling by Drosophila Cryptochrome: Role of the Redox Status of the Flavin Chromophore" appears in the February 21, 2014 print edition of The Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Yunus Annayev, under the direction of Dr. Aziz Sancar, successfully defended his dissertation and received his Ph.D. on April 17th, 2014! The title of his dissertation is “Characterization of New Mouse Circadian Clock Gene: GM129“.
Exposure to UV radiation triggers DNA lesions that can lead to skin cancer, the most common type of cancer in the United States. Previous studies in mice have shown that levels of a protein called XPA, involved in repairing UV-induced DNA lesions, waxes and wanes with the time of day. Shobhan Gaddameedhi et al. found that the protein's level and activity in mouse skin cells are at their lowest at 4 AM and their highest at 4PM.
On the JBC Cover: The circadian clock is the internal timekeeping molecular system that generates a daily rhythm in an organism's physiology and behavior.