Interview transcript

[Aziz Sancar] Hello.

[Adam Smith] Oh hello, Professor Sancar, this is Adam Smith from Nobelprize.org. Many congratulations on the award of the Nobel Prize.

[Aziz Sancar] Thank you.

[Adam Smith] How did you hear the news?

[Aziz Sancar] I just got a call half an hour ago. My wife took it and woke me up. I wasn’t expecting it at all, I was very surprised.

[Adam Smith] [Laughs] I can hear it in your voice. What was the first thing you did on hearing the news?

[Aziz Sancar] I tried my best to be coherent, I was sleeping, and it was a pleasant experience.

[Adam Smith] It must be quite extraordinary, what an amazing phone call to receive. I believe I’m right in thinking that you’re the first Turkish born scientist to receive the Nobel Prize?

[Aziz Sancar]  Scientist. Orhan Pamuk got it in Literature a number of years ago.

[Adam Smith] Exactly, yes, but scientist yes. I imagine that not only will there be celebrations in Chapel Hill but there will be big celebrations in Turkey today.

[Aziz Sancar] I’m sure there will be. Yes they’ve been asking over the years and I was tired of hearing ‘when are you going to get the Nobel Prize?’ so I’m glad for my country as well.

[Adam Smith] Yes indeed. The Prize is of course for mechanistic studies of DNA repair and I suppose it’s been a mammoth task, and is still a mammoth task, mapping all the systems that protect our DNA.

[Aziz Sancar] Right.

[Adam Smith] And these repair mechanisms mostly protect us from cancer but presumably they also end up protecting cancer cells as well sometimes.

[Aziz Sancar] That is correct and they’re also important in cancer treatment because many of the anti-cancer drugs do damage DNA and whether cancer cells can repair it or not could influence how cancer is treated.

[Adam Smith] What do you think is going to happen to you now?

[Aziz Sancar] Well, my lectures start at the end of this month and go through December but I think I will try my best to go through with my lectures, but there will be some disruptions I think.

[Adam Smith] I imagine many. Are you looking forward to the attention that is about to descend on you?

[Aziz Sancar] I am of course honoured to get this recognition for all the work I’ve done over the years, but I’m also proud for my family and for my native country and my adopted country, and especially for Turkey it’s quite important.

[Adam Smith] Thank you very much indeed, well when you come to Stockholm in December for the awards ceremony we will have the chance to speak more about this.

[Aziz Sancar] OK, thank you.

[Adam Smith] OK, thank you. And my many, many congratulations on the award.

[Aziz Sancar] Thank you very much.

[Adam Smith] Thank you, bye bye.

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