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He was born in 1946 in the Savur district of Mardin, the seventh of eight children of a middle-income farmer family.
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He went to Istanbul University Faculty of Medicine in 1963.
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He graduated from the university he attended in 1969 with the first place.
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Sancar worked at Yale University School of Medicine between 1977-1982. In this period, he stopped his photolyase enzyme studies and started nucleotide cut repair research. He completed his associate professorship thesis in DNA repair.
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National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award
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American Society for Photobiology Award
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National Institutes of Health Award
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Since 1997, he has been continuing his research as Sarah Graham Kenan Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA, which is known for his studies in Biochemistry and Biophysics.
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TUBITAK Science Award
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He was awarded the North Carolina Distinguished Chemist Award from the American Chemical Society in 2001.
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American Academy of Arts and Sciences Award
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Member of the US National Academy of Sciences
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He was elected as a full member of the Turkish Academy of Sciences in 2006.
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He received the Vehbi Koç Award.
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Sancar was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, along with American Paul Modrich and Swedish Tomas Lindahl, for his work on DNA repair.