SOCIETY UPDATE
Maya Ajmera, President & CEO of the Society for Science and Publisher of Science News,
chatted with Paul Modrich, James B. Duke Professor of Biochemistry at Duke University
Medical Center, ahead of his retirement. Modrich won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in
2015 and participated in the 1964 Science Talent Search and the 1964 National Science
Fair, today called the International Science and Engineering Fair.
my academic adviser at MIT. He was an excellent teacher who
took great interest in his advisees. I'm convinced he had a lot to
do with getting me into Stanford University’s graduate school.
I had the privilege of doing my graduate work in Bob Lehman’s
laboratory, where I studied an enzyme called DNA ligase that
can seal a break in a DNA strand. Then I did my postdoc with
Charles Richardson at Harvard Medical School, working on
DNA replication. Bob and Charles are both among the world's
greatest DNA biochemists, but they're also wonderful people. I
learned how to do science working in their laboratories, where
they allowed me a great deal of freedom in my choice of
experimental pursuits. I regard working with them as highlights
of my career.You've described yourself as an experimentalist. What do
you mean by this and how does it characterize your approach
to research?
When I write a grant application, I frame the problem in terms
of: This is what we know, these are the unanswered questions
and this is how we'll address those questions experimentally. A
well-designed experiment can give you the truth. The physicist
Richard Feynman wrote, “The ultimate test of knowledge is
experiment. Experiment is the sole judge of scientific ‘truth.’ ”You received the Nobel prize in chemistry in 2015 for your
discoveries concerning the mechanisms of DNA repair. What
was it like to get the call?
I never actually got the call. My wife and I were at our cabin
in New Hampshire, and when we returned to North Carolina,Paul, you are an alum of both the 1964 Science Talent
Search and the National Science Fair. How did those
competitions impact your life?
As a teenager, I was interested in the possibility of a career
in science, but I really had no idea how realistic that was. I
think it's fair to say that the opportunity to attend the National
Science Fair and compete in the Science Talent Search
were truly great opportunities for me. Those competitions
suggested that a career in science might actually be a real
possibility for me. I also think the competitions had a lot to do
with my getting into MIT as an undergraduate.
Your beginnings in science may seem atypical to some.
You grew up in a small town in New Mexico where there
was only one biology teacher, your dad. What inspired your
interest in science?
I was always fascinated by science as a boy. When you grow up
in a rural area, nature is right there. It's right in your face and for
me, often quite moving. I still feel that same thing every time
I return to New Mexico.
Who were some of your early mentors and how did they
inspire or influence your career in science?
My parents, of course, consistently encouraged my curiosity
about science. My father was a great biology teacher. He
influenced not only me, but a number of others from my high
school who went on to pursue careers in biology or medicine,
which is unusual for a small town like mine.
Salvador Luria, one of the fathers of molecular biology, was
CONVERSATIONS
WITH
MAYA PAUL MODRICH
James B. Duke Professor of Biochemistry,
Duke University Medical CenterSOCIETY UPDATE