Damage to DNA can lead to mutagenesis or carcinogenesis, and therefore all damage DNA components must be repaired. In the simplest case, DNA damage can be repaired by direct chemical reversal. More complicated natural repair processes also exist. For example, base excision repair uses numerous enzymes to remove a damaged base from DNA. We are interested in the mechanism of action of base excision repair enzymes. It is hoped that by better understanding natural DNA repair, scientists will better understand how to mimic these repair processes with therapeutics.