1988, his certificate of election
reads:
“ Dr. Tomas Lindahl is
noted for his
contributions to the
comprehension of DNA
repair at the molecular
level in bacterial and
mammalian cells. He
was the first to isolate a
mammalian DNA
ligase and to describe a
totally unanticipated
novel group of DNA
glycosylases as
mediators of DNA
excision repair. He has
also discovered a unique
class of enzymes in
mammalian cells,
namely
the methyltransferases,
which mediate the
adaptive response
to alkylation of DNA
and has shown that the
expression of these
enzymes is regulated by
the ada gene. More
recently he has
elucidated the molecular
defect in Blooms
”
syndrome to be the lack
of DNA ligase I. Apart
from providing profound
insights into the nature
of the DNA repair
process his very
important contributions
promise to facilitate the
design of more selective
chemotherapeutic drugs
for the treatment of
cancer. Lindahl has also
made a number of
significant contributions
to understanding at the
DNA level the
mechanism of
transformation of Blymphocytes by
the Epstein-Barr virus.
The most notable of
these was the first
description of the
occurrence in lymphoid
cells of closed circular
duplex viral DNA.
He shared the Nobel Prize in
Chemistry in 2015. The
Swedish Academy noted that
"The Nobel Prize in Chemistry
2015 was awarded jointly to
Tomas Lindahl, Paul Modrich
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