Mr Kuznetsov was awarded the prize for achievements in the study of molecular-kinetic mechanisms for preserving genetic information in living organisms.
Nikita Kuznetsov was born on September 1, 1982, in the village of Glubokoye, Western Kazakhstan Region, Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. He holds a PhD in chemistry and is senior researcher at the Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Mr Kuznetsov is a leading expert in the bio-kinetics field in Russia and prominent representative of the Russian school of study of chemicals and fermentative reactions.
Mr Kuznetsov’s main scientific achievement is the discovery of a stage-by-stage DNA repair mechanism. This repair system is a key tool in maintaining the genome’s integrity over the entire course of a living organism’s life. Disruptions and breakdowns in the system can lead to the development of various illnesses, including cancer.
One of the modern areas of research into fighting cancer involves suppressing the repair system in cancer cells. This is essential for making anti-tumour medicines more effective and developing tolerance to them. Mr Kuznetsov has developed and patented a number of methods and diagnostic tools for determining the level of activeness of the key ferments in the DNA repair process.
Mr Kuznetsov has also used new real-time kinetic methods to study other important fermentative systems.
He has published the results of his research in this field in 17 articles in leading foreign and Russian journals (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, Nucl. Acid res., J.Biol.Chem., Biochem Biophys Acta).
The results of Mr Kuznetsov’s work have made a big contribution to understanding the molecular mechanisms at work in DNA repair systems.