ELIZABETH BLACKBURN

Elizabeth Blackburn was born in Hobart, Tasmania on November 26, 1948. She studied Biochemistry at the University of Melbourne, after in Cambridge and Yale in the USA.

At Yale she began studying telomeres. She discovered telomerase an enzyme that forms telomeres in cell division. Telomeres are the ends of chromosomes. The less telomerase is secreted, the sorter the telomeres will be, until cell death.

However, cancer cells are able to continue to produce an amount of telomerase, causing the appearance of tumours. Therefore, to treat cancer, substances that slow down the secretion of telomerase should be discovered.

For these discoveries, she received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2009 (together with two collaborators).

She has also received many other prizes.

Elizabeth Blackburn is now a teacher at the University of California and is 71 years old.

MARISOL ASPIROZ – ENGLISH FOR FUN 3C