Elizabeth Blackburn won the Nobel Prize in medicine for discovering how chromosomes are protected.

Blackburn, hailing from the University of California, San Francisco shares the spotlight with two other scientists. Carol Greider of Johns Hopkins University and Jack Szostak of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital.

The three scientists will each take home one-third of the $1.4 million prize.

The trio found that chromosome-capping telomeres — which Blackburn has compared to the plastic ends of shoe laces — and the enzyme telomerase protect chromosomes as cells divide.

Blackburn and Szostak discovered that a unique DNA sequence in the telomeres protects the chromosomes from degradation while Blackburn and Greider identified telomerase, the enzyme that makes telomere DNA.

The discovery will help boost the on-going cancer and aging research and may provide hope for chronically stressed out people.

According to the San Francisco Business Times, Blackburn, Greider and Szostak beat out other notable scientists, including Shinya Yamanaka of UCSF and the J. David Gladstone Institutes, whose work at Kyoto University in Japan produced an embryonic-like stem cell from adult stem cells.

Elizabeth (Liz) Helen Blackburn was born November 26, 1948 in Hobart Tasmania. She is biologist at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), who studies the telomere, a structure at the end of chromosomes which protects the chromosome. She co-discovered telomerase, the enzyme that replenishes the telomere.
Throughout her career, Blackburn has been honored by her peers as the recipient of many prestigious awards. She was elected President of the American Society for Cell Biology for the year 1998. Blackburn is an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1991), the Royal Society of London (1992), the American Academy of Microbiology (1993), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2000).
Elizabeth Blackburn along with two other US scientists - Carol Greider and Jack Szostak, received the 2009 Nobel Prize in Medicine for their chromosome research.
The discovery determined how chromosomes can be "copied in a complete way during cell divisions and how they are protected against degradation," according to the citation.
The award includes a $1.5 million prize, a diploma and an invitation to the prize ceremonies in Stockholm on Dec. 10.

STOCKHOLM: Australian researcher Elizabeth Blackburn and U.S. colleagues Carol Greider and Jack Szostak have won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for identifying a key molecular switch in cellular ageing.

The trio were honoured for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the role of an enzyme called telomerase in maintaining or stripping away this vital shield.

"The award of the Nobel Prize recognises the discovery of a fundamental mechanism in the cell, a discovery that has stimulated the development of new therapeutic strategies," the Nobel jury said.

The three scientists told Swedish Radio they were overjoyed by the news. Greider said she was "just thrilled, I just think that the recognition for curiosity-driven basic science is very, very nice," adding that she was up doing laundry in the U.S. when the early morning call came from Sweden.

First Australian woman

Blackburn, 60, a Hobart-born graduate of Melbourne University, becomes the first Australian woman to win a Nobel Prize. She said she knew when they made their discovery that they were on to something big. "I felt very excited ... and I thought this is very interesting, this is a very important result, and you don't often feel that about a result," she said.

Blackburn, who has worked in the U.S. for many years, was one of the favourites for the Nobel for physiology or medicine.

Szostak said meanwhile he expected "to have a big party at some point" to celebrate the prestigious award.
Telomeres are a minute yet vital factor in ageing. They are like a nubby, protective cap, fitting on the ends of the strands of DNA - the chemical recipe for life - that are packed into chromosomes.

Blackburn and Szostak discovered in 1982 that a unique DNA sequence in the telomeres protects the chromosomes from degradation when the cells divide. With Greider, Blackburn also identified telomerase, the enzyme that makes the telomere DNA.

If telomeres become worn, cells age. But if telomerase levels are high, the telomere length is maintained, and cellular ageing is braked.

A small number of rare but very destructive diseases, including a form of severe anaemia, are linked to defective telomerase, resulting in damaged cells.

Insights into cancer

Yet there is also a darker and more complex side to this picture. Many experts initially speculated that ageing could be pinned to telomere shortening, but the process has emerged as something that encompasses different factors, as well as telomeres.

In addition, high telomerase also helps cancer, enabling its cells to replicate endlessly and achieve what scientists call 'cellular immortality'. Finding ways of blocking this machinery through 'telomerase inhibitors' is one of the most eagerly explored areas of cancer research.

The trio's work has "added a new dimension to our understanding of the cell, shed light on disease mechanisms, and stimulated the development of potential new therapies," the Nobel citation said.

Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider and Jack Szostak won the 2009 Nobel prize for medicine or physiology on Monday for their work on chromosomes.

Here are some details about the winners:

* ELIZABETH H. BLACKBURN:

– Elizabeth Helen Blackburn is a molecular biologist and biochemist who conducted ground-breaking research on DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and cell division that has provided a new line of inquiry into the chemical bases of life.

– Her discovery of a key enzyme, telomerase, which is necessary for chromosomes to make copies of themselves before cell division, has been applied to the study of chromosome behavior and of certain diseases, such as fungal infections and cancer.

– Blackburn, who has U.S. and Australian citizenship, was born in Hobart, Australia in November 1948. Blackburn’s interest in medicine and biology was influenced early on by her parents, both of whom were physicians.

– Blackburn graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1970 and with a MS degree in 1971.

– She went to Cambridge University, where she obtained a Ph.D. in molecular biology in 1975. She then went to the United States, drawn by professional and personal reasons. While attending Cambridge, Blackburn met and married John Sedat, an American postdoctoral researcher in biology. — Blackburn then began her work with telomeres, which help chromosomes to remain stable and whole, thereby ensuring completion of the DNA replication cycle. In 1978 she became assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley, where she was to make her ground-breaking discoveries concerning chromosomes and DNA.

– In 1990 she went to the University of California at San Francisco. She is currently the Morris Herzstein Professor of Biology and Physiology at UCSF.

– She was fired in 2004 from then-President George W. Bush’s Council on Bioethics for her criticism of his restrictive policy on embryonic stem cell research. Earlier this year she said “The previous administration had this strange impression that science was the enemy of morality.”

* CAROL W. GREIDER:

– Greider began with her adviser, Elizabeth Blackburn, to investigate how a certain single-celled pond organism maintained the tens of thousands of caps on the ends of its mini-chromosomes – specialized structures known as telomeres that protect against DNA damage.

– Greider is a U.S. citizen and was born in 1961 in San Diego, near the University of California, Davis campus, where her father was a physics professor.

– Greider received her Ph.D. from University of California, Berkeley, in 1987 in molecular and cell biology. After postdoctoral research at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, she was appointed professor in the department of molecular biology and genetics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore in 1997.

– Greider was credited with helping co-discover telomerase, an enzyme that maintains the length and integrity of telomeres. She has continued her work on telomeres and documented a mouse model for dyskeratosis congenital, a rare, inherited disorder related to stem cell failure.

– Greider shared the 2006 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research with Blackburn and Szostak.

JACK W. SZOSTAK:

– Szostak was born in November 1952 in London and grew up in Canada.

– He studied at McGill University in Montreal and at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where he received his PhD in 1977.

– He has been at Harvard Medical School since 1979 and is currently professor of genetics at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He is also affiliated with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

– Szostak has made pioneering contributions to the field of genetics. He has studied the origin and early evolution of life through efforts to design and synthesize a self-replicating protocell capable of Darwinian evolution.

Carol Greider..Elizabeth Blackburn:Americans Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak won the 2009 Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for discovering a key mechanism in the genetic operations of cells, an insight that has inspired new lines of research into cancer.

The trio solved the mystery of how chromosomes, the rod-like structures that carry DNA, protect themselves from degrading when cells divide.

The Nobel citation said the laureates found the solution in the ends of the chromosomes – structures called telomeres that are often compared to the plastic tips at the end of shoe laces that keep those laces from unraveling.

Blackburn and Greider discovered the enzyme that builds telomeres – telomerase – and the mechanism by which it adds DNA to the tips of chromosomes to replace genetic material that has eroded away.

The prize-winners’ work set the stage for research suggesting that cancer cells use telomerase to sustain their uncontrolled growth. Scientists are studying whether drugs that block the enzyme can fight the disease. In addition, scientists believe that the DNA erosion the enzyme repairs might play a role in some illnesses.

The discoveries by Blackburn, Greider and Szostak have added a new dimension to our understanding of the cell, shed light on disease mechanisms, and stimulated the development of potential new therapies,” the prize committee said in its citation.

It was the first time that two women have been among the winners of the medicine prize, committee members said.

Blackburn, who holds U.S. and Australian citizenship, is a professor of biology and physiology at the University of California, San Francisco. Greider is a professor in the department of molecular biology and genetics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

Greider, 48, said she was telephoned by just before 5 a.m. her time with the news that she had won.

“It’s really very thrilling, it’s something you can’t expect,” she told The Associated Press by telephone.

People might make predictions of who might win, but one never expects it, she said, adding that “It’s like the Monty Python sketch, ‘Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!”‘

Greider described the research as beginning with experiments aimed at understanding how cells work, not with the idea for certain implications for medicine.

“Funding for that kind of curiosity-driven science is really important,” she said, adding that disease-oriented research isn’t the only way to reach the answer, but “both together are synergistic,” she said.

Blackburn, 60, said she was awakened at 2 a.m.

“Prizes are always a nice thing,” she told The AP. “It doesn’t change the research per se, of course, but it’s lovely to have the recognition and share it with Carol Greider and Jack Szostak.”

London-born Szostak has been at Harvard Medical School since 1979 and is currently professor of genetics at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He is also affiliated with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the citation said.more info

Americans Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol and Jack W. Creider Szoztak are the winners of Nobel Prize for Medicine 2009 for his discoveries of how the enzyme telomerase protects the chromosomes, reported today the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

The medicine prize is endowed with ten million kronor (980,000 euros or $ 1.4 million) and, like the other Nobel prizes, is delivered on December 10, the anniversary of the death of its founder, Alfred Nobel.

A discovery to tackle cancer
The three Americans discovered that there is a protective ring around the chromosomes created by so-called telomeres and telomerase, which make the fountain of youth functions of cells-for the good of the 'good' and bad of the 'bad "like cancer.

Blackburn, born in 1948 in Tasmania and Australian-based dual citizenship, and Greider, born in 1961 in San Diego, discovered the enzyme telomerase together in 1985 when the first ran the doctorate of his young colleague. This research followed the line a year earlier proposal by the very Blackburn and Szostak, born in London in 1952 and formed between the U.S. and Canada.

The Karolinska Institute awards and a trio of researchers connected with the cell and cancer studies, trained at prestigious institutions of Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and the U.S..

Biographies of the winners
Blackburn grew up in Tasmania and educated at Melbourne University in 1975 his Ph.D. at Cambridge (UK) and pursued his postdoctoral research at Yale (USA). From there he went to practice at the University of California at Berkeley, and since 1990 a professor of biology and physiology at the University of California San Francisco.

Greider, born in America, was formed between the University of California, Santa Barbara and Berkeley, where he received his doctorate in 1987, led by Blackburn. Subsequently investigated in the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and currently serves as professor of molecular biology and genetics at the University of Baltimore.

Szostak, finally, was born in 1952 in London and was formed between the U.S. and Canada, until his doctorate at Cornell University in New York. He is professor of genetics at Massachusetts General Hospital, an activity he combines with his scientific work at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Elizabeth Helen Blackburn was the first person to study the "telomeres, the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes that are necessary both for the control of cell division to maintain the integrity and stability of chromosomes. During their study of telomeres, Elizabeth Blackburn discovered the "telomerase" enzyme that forms the telomeres during DNA replication. The enzyme telomerase is related to the biological clock that controls the age of cells: the lack of telomerase causes in each cell division telomeres shorten, so that after a certain number of divisions the cells become unable to divide and die . Normally, cells produce telomerase are leaving with age. However, cancer cells produce telomerase much so that the cells live longer and are able to divide more (tumor formation). Telomerase was discovered by Elizabeth Blackburn is therefore related to processes of cellular aging and cancer, two facts important for basic biology and medicine. The discovery may allow Blackburn to find substances capable of inhibiting the action of telomerase, which would help in cancer treatment and the eradication of fungal infections that occur in immunosuppressed patients.

Born in Hobart (Tasmania) daughter of a couple of doctors, Elizabeth Blackburn studied Biochemistry at the University of Melbourne (Australia), and in 1975 earned his Ph.D. in molecular biology from Cambridge University (England), his doctoral thesis dealt with the Nucleic acid sequencing. Between 1975 and 1977 he worked at Yale University through a postdoctoral fellowship, where he began to study the structure of telomeres with John Gall. From 1977 he worked at the University of California at Berkeley, where he studied with Jack W. Szostak behavior of telomeres in diverse organisms. In 1984, Elizabeth Blackburn and Carol W. Greider discovered the enzyme telomerase, and in 1985 succeeded in isolating and began to create artificial telomeres to study the control of cell division. In 1986 Blackburn won a place at this university as a professor and laboratory director. After 13 years at the University of California at Berkeley, in 1990 he moved to San Francisco where he has worked in two departments: biochemistry, biophysics and microbiology-immunology. In 1993 he was appointed director of the department of Microbiology and Immunology, becoming the first woman to hold such a post at the University of California. He is currently professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics Laboratory and leader of Blackburn, a world leader in the manipulation of telomerase activity in cells.

Elizabeth Blackburn is president of the American Society of Cell Biology, and belongs also to the U.S. Institute of Medicine and the Royal Society of London. Among the many awards he has received is the Eli Lilly Award in Microbiology (1988), the prize of the American Academy of Sciences in Molecular Biology (1990), the Gairdner Foundation (1998), the Australia Prize, the Medal of Honor of the American Cancer Society, the prize Alfred P. Sloan of General Motors Foundation for Research on Cancer (2001), the 26th annual award from Bristol-Meyers Squibb, cancer research, and Dr. AH Heineken Prize for Medicine. In 1999 he was named "Scientist of the Year" in California, and in 2005 received the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Sciences. In 2006 he received, along with John Gall, Jack W. Szostak and Carol Greider, the Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, one of the most prestigious scientific awards. In 2007, also with Gall and Greider, has received the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize, awarded annually by Columbia University by discoveries in biochemistry or biology.

During his stay in England, Elizabeth Blackburn who met her future husband, John Sedat, who also studied molecular biology at Cambridge and is currently a professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of California at San Francisco. Married in 1975, took his only son, Benjamin, in 1986, the same year that Elizabeth was appointed professor at UC Berkeley. Blackburn has written several articles in relation to motherhood, which has championed the importance of spending enough time caring for the sons or daughters. In "Balancing Family and Career: One Way That Worked," Blackburn said that every woman has the right to choose a career without fear of being discriminated against because of their potential motherhood: "It makes no sense that the career is closed to women because of a temporary situation. "

The Australian-born Elizabeth Blackburn in 1948 in Hobart, Tasmania, a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is the new winner of the Nobel Medicine Prize, an award that credit was for his research on telomeres , DNA sequences that protect the ends of chromosomes in the same way as plastic tips prevent the shoelace from fraying.

Elizabeth Blackburn's research consists of two parts. On one hand, with the help of Jack Szostak (the Howard Hughes Medical Institute) found that the unique DNA sequence at telomeres prevents aging and degradation of chromosomes. On the other, along with Carol Greider (Johns Hopkins University) discovered the enzyme telomerase, which helps form the DNA of telomeres. No wonder, then, that Elizabeth Blackburn shares the award and prize of USD 1.4 billion with its partners.

The findings of Elizabeth and her team have several applications. For example, help find new therapies to cure or alleviate cancer, or to understand and improve the regenerative effect of stem cells. But where more enforcement is the discovery of telomeres and telomerase is in understanding the aging process.


You see, Blackburn concludes that as telomeres shorten (by the age of the person or be subjected to considerable stress periods) is giving way to cellular degradation, which in turn leads to wrinkles, legs cock and all that he attributed simply to the passage of time. By contrast, increased activity of the enzyme telomerase maintains the length of telomeres and this in turn allows Madonna, Claudia Di Girolamo and Sofia Loren look great but are no longer a girl.

Although this is a technology blog (and technological lifestyle) I not be the only geek who regrets, since already in such a short life we will miss wonderful inventions to come in 50 or 100 years. If an investigation like that of Elizabeth Blackburn gives us a hand to get to see the teleportation, time travel and the colonization of Mars, then this research deserves full respect for all technology lovers.

Elizabeth Helen Blackburn was the first person to study the "telomeres, the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes that are necessary both for the control of cell division to maintain the integrity and stability of chromosomes. During their study of telomeres, Elizabeth Blackburn discovered the "telomerase" enzyme that forms the telomeres during DNA replication. The enzyme telomerase is related to the biological clock that controls the age of cells: the lack of telomerase causes in each cell division telomeres shorten, so that after a certain number of divisions the cells become unable to divide and die . Normally, cells produce telomerase are leaving with age. However, cancer cells produce telomerase much so that the cells live longer and are able to divide more (tumor formation). Telomerase was discovered by Elizabeth Blackburn is therefore related to processes of cellular aging and cancer, two facts important for basic biology and medicine. The discovery may allow Blackburn to find substances capable of inhibiting the action of telomerase, which would help in cancer treatment and the eradication of fungal infections that occur in immunosuppressed patients.

Born in Hobart (Tasmania) daughter of a couple of doctors, Elizabeth Blackburn studied Biochemistry at the University of Melbourne (Australia), and in 1975 earned his Ph.D. in molecular biology from Cambridge University (England), his doctoral thesis dealt with the Nucleic acid sequencing. Between 1975 and 1977 he worked at Yale University through a postdoctoral fellowship, where he began to study the structure of telomeres with John Gall. From 1977 he worked at the University of California at Berkeley, where he studied with Jack W. Szostak behavior of telomeres in diverse organisms. In 1984, Elizabeth Blackburn and Carol W. Greider discovered the enzyme telomerase, and in 1985 succeeded in isolating and began to create artificial telomeres to study the control of cell division. In 1986 Blackburn won a place at this university as a professor and laboratory director. After 13 years at the University of California at Berkeley, in 1990 he moved to San Francisco where he has worked in two departments: biochemistry, biophysics and microbiology-immunology. In 1993 he was appointed director of the department of Microbiology and Immunology, becoming the first woman to hold such a post at the University of California. He is currently professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics Laboratory and leader of Blackburn, a world leader in the manipulation of telomerase activity in cells.

Elizabeth Blackburn is president of the American Society of Cell Biology, and belongs also to the U.S. Institute of Medicine and the Royal Society of London. Among the many awards he has received is the Eli Lilly Award in Microbiology (1988), the prize of the American Academy of Sciences in Molecular Biology (1990), the Gairdner Foundation (1998), the Australia Prize, the Medal of Honor of the American Cancer Society, the prize Alfred P. Sloan of General Motors Foundation for Research on Cancer (2001), the 26th annual award from Bristol-Meyers Squibb, cancer research, and Dr. AH Heineken Prize for Medicine. In 1999 he was named "Scientist of the Year" in California, and in 2005 received the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Sciences. In 2006 he received, along with John Gall, Jack W. Szostak and Carol Greider, the Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, one of the most prestigious scientific awards. In 2007, also with Gall and Greider, has received the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize, awarded annually by Columbia University by discoveries in biochemistry or biology.

During his stay in England, Elizabeth Blackburn who met her future husband, John Sedat, who also studied molecular biology at Cambridge and is currently a professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of California at San Francisco. Married in 1975, took his only son, Benjamin, in 1986, the same year that Elizabeth was appointed professor at UC Berkeley. Blackburn has written several articles in relation to motherhood, which has championed the importance of spending enough time caring for the sons or daughters. In "Balancing Family and Career: One Way That Worked," Blackburn said that every woman has the right to choose a career without fear of being discriminated against because of their potential motherhood: "It makes no sense that the career is closed to women because of a temporary situation. "

Bibligrafía

Diego Lopes de Oliveira. 12 scientists of the twentieth century. Elizabeth Helen Blackburn: The Way to the telomere. El País - Salud, P. 7, 12 January 2008.

Elizabeth H. Blackburn is both a citizen of the USA and Australia. She is 61 year old and is a professor of biology and physiology at the University of California, San Francisco.

Elizabeth H. Blackburn did her undergraduate studies at the University of Melbourne.

She obtained her PHD in 1975 at the University of Cambridge and was also a researcher at the Yale University in USA.

STOCKHOLM (AP) - Americans Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak won the 2009 Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for discovering a key mechanism in the genetic operations of cells, an insight that has inspired new lines of research into cancer.

It was the first time two women have been among the winners of the medicine prize.

The trio solved the mystery of how chromosomes, the rod-like structures that carry DNA, protect themselves from degrading when cells divide.

The Nobel citation said the laureates found the solution in the ends of the chromosomes - called telomeres features that are often compared to the plastic tips at the end of shoe laces that keep those laces from unraveling.

Blackburn and Greider discovered the enzyme that builds telomeres - telomerase - and the mechanism by Which it adds DNA to the tips of chromosomes to replace genetic material that has eroded away.

The prize-winners' work, done in the late 1970s and 1980s, set the stage for research Suggesting that cancer cells use telomerase to sustain their uncontrolled growth. Whether scientists are studying drugs that block the enzyme can fight the disease. In addition, scientists believe that the DNA erosion the enzyme repairs might play a role in some illnesses.

"The discoveries by Blackburn, Greider and Szostak have added a new dimension to our understanding of the cell, shed light on disease mechanisms, and stimulated the development of potential new therapies," the prize committee said in its citation.

Blackburn, who holds U.S. and Australian citizenship, is a professor of biology and physiology at the University of California, San Francisco. Greider is a professor in the department of genetics and molecular biology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

Greider, 48, said she was telephone just before 5 am her time with the news that she had won.

"It's really very thrilling, it's something you can not expect," she told The Associated Press by telephone.

People might make predictions of who might win, but one never expects it, she said, adding that "It's like the Monty Python sketch, 'Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!" "

Greider described the research as beginning with experiments Aimed at understanding how cells work, not with the idea for Certain implications for medicine.

"Funding for that kind of curiosity-driven science is really important," she said, adding that disease-oriented research is not the only way to reach the answer, but "both together are synergistic," she said.

Blackburn, 60, said she was awakened at 2 a.m.

"Prizes are always a nice thing," she told The AP. "It does not change the research per se, of course, but it's lovely to have the recognition and share it with Carol Greider and Jack Szostak."

London-born Szostak, 56, has been at Harvard Medical School since 1979 and is currently professor of genetics. He is also affiliated with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

"There's always some small chance that something like this might happen, so when the phone rang, I thought maybe this is it, so, sure enough," Szostak told the AP.

He said winning the prize was made sweeter Because it also included Blackburn and Greider.

"When we started the work, of course, we were really just interested in the very basic question about DNA replication, how the ends of chromosomes are maintained," he said. "At the time we had no idea there would be all these implications later."

He said that since then it had become apparent that "this process of Maintaining the ends of DNA molecules is very important and plays an important role in cancer and in aging, Which are really still being fully worked out."

Elizabeth Blackburn of the University of California, San Francisco, was named the Nobel Prize winner in physiology or medicine for discovering how chromosomes are protected.

Blackburn will share one-third of the $1.4 million prize with Carol Greider of Johns Hopkins University and Jack Szostak of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital.

The trio found that chromosome-capping telomeres — which Blackburn has compared to the plastic ends of shoe laces — and the enzyme telomerase protect chromosomes as cells divide.

Blackburn and Szostak discovered that a unique DNA sequence in the telomeres protects the chromosomes from degradation while Blackburn and Greider identified telomerase, the enzyme that makes telomere DNA.

If the telomeres are shortened, cells age. Higher telomerase activity, meanwhile, maintains telomeres length.

The discoveries have an impact on cancer research as well as research into aging and other diseases. Blackburn and her UCSF colleagues have found, for example, that telomeres are worn down in people who are stressed for long periods of time, like a parent caring for a chronically ill child.

Blackburn is the fourth UCSF Nobel Prize winner, joining Stanley Prusiner, Harold Varmus and former chancellor J. Michael Bishop.

Blackburn, Greider and Szostak beat out other notable scientists, including Shinya Yamanaka of UCSF and the J. David Gladstone Institutes, whose work at Kyoto University in Japan produced an embryonic-like stem cell from adult stem cells.

Yamanaka last month won the Lasker Award, considered a precursor to a Nobel Prize. It is the same award that Blackburn, Greider and Szostak won in 2006.