Abstract
This introduction to the book: DNA repair protocols: third edition, edited by Bjergbaek, discusses the history and more recent developments in the field of DNA repair. This research field started in the 1950 and developed from a small group of researchers interested in the damage caused to DNA by ultraviolet irradiation from the sun to become a large field of research today. DNA damage and its repair are now thought to play an important role in the etiologies of cancer, aging, and neurodegeneration and there is a great deal of interest in this venture. Thus, understanding of DNA processing is now a central field in molecular and cellular biology, and the field is still growing.