Photo by ScholzI love kangaroos. Macropods in general are really cool. Their reproductive biology, their fascinating social systems, the efficiency of their movement, they way they scratch themselves. Now researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Free Radical Chemistry and Biotechnology think they have found a whole new reason to love roos – they might be able to repair DNA. Specifically DNA that - left unrepaired – is linked to cancer.

More than 1,700 people die of skin cancer each year in Australia alone, so this work Dr Linda Feketeová and Dr Uta Wille might turn out to be very important. Basically kangaroos (and other organisms, but not humans) produce an enzyme that is able to repair this particular type of DNA damage that has been linked to some skin cancers. Working with scientists from The University of Innsbruck, Austria, Drs Feketeová and Wille are hoping that a greater understanding of exactly how this process happens in kangaroos could lead to treatments or – better yet – preventative measures for humans.

There is there is the possibility of some sort of preventative treatment containing useful enzymes for use after significant sun exposure. Now that does sound ambitious, but let’s face it, we already slop on sun screan as a preventative measure. The idea of some sort of product that acts on a biochemical level is really cool, and this research is a step along that path. Thanks roos!