In the 1970s, I did a Ph.D. with Fred Sanger in Cambridge who was in the process of inventing ways to map what's inside DNA. He later won the Nobel Prize. Elizabeth Blackburn More Quotes by Elizabeth Blackburn More Quotes From Elizabeth Blackburn Biology sometimes reveals its fundamental principles through what may seem at first to be arcane and bizarre. Elizabeth Blackburn through biology principles sometimes I chose biochemistry as my major and graduated after 4 years with an Honours degree in Biochemistry. During that time, I had come to love biochemistry research, although I was just getting my feet wet in laboratory research. Elizabeth Blackburn research feet time love Telomeres are the protective caps at the ends of chromosomes in cells. Chromosomes carry the genetic information. Telomeres are buffers. They are like the tips of shoelaces. If you lose the tips, the ends start fraying. Elizabeth Blackburn lose start you information No one ever said, 'Be a doctor.' But because so many members of my extended family - aunts, uncles - were doctors, there was this expectation that I'd probably be a physician. Elizabeth Blackburn expectation doctor family said In humans, the thing is that as we mature, our telomeres slowly wear down. So the question has always been: 'Did that matter?' Well, more and more, it seems like it matters. Elizabeth Blackburn wear down mature matter As maize became important for human food worldwide, modern agricultural research on maize breeding continued the corn breeding begun thousands of years ago in the Central American highlands. Elizabeth Blackburn human important research food What is it that keeps you so interested in the telomere? It's so intricate and complicated, and you want to know how it works. Elizabeth Blackburn know you complicated want Generally, we try to have a situation where the person is healthy, so you're not confounded by disease. So, that means that healthy individuals are donating their blood samples for the studies. Elizabeth Blackburn person try you situation We and other groups are seeing clear statistical links between telomere shortness and risk for a variety of diseases that are becoming very common, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and certain cancers. Elizabeth Blackburn diabetes seeing risk disease Studying organisms at a molecular level was totally compelling because it was moving from being a naturalist, which was the 19th-century kind of science, to being very focused and really getting to the heart of these molecules. Elizabeth Blackburn focused heart science moving Basically, when you look at different types of cells, such as fibroblasts, which form connective tissue, or epithelial cells, from saliva, you see general correlations within a person. If telomeres are up for one cell type, they're up for others overall. Elizabeth Blackburn person see look you If a test showed you had telomere shortening, it would be a red flag suggesting you should take a look at possible risk factors. Elizabeth Blackburn flag look you red The goal is to learn more about telomere length and other markers of ageing, how best to measure these markers, how they are related to health and lifestyle, and how people respond to learning their own telomere length results. Elizabeth Blackburn best learning health people One characteristic aspect of ageing is the increased susceptibility to disease, particularly age-related diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Elizabeth Blackburn diseases ageing cancer disease Cancer cells have a lot of other things that are really wrong with them, and we should never forget that these are cells that have become deaf to all the signals that the body sends out, such as you can multiply a certain amount, you can be in a certain place in the body, where to stay, where to move, and so on. Elizabeth Blackburn place you never-forget forget I was born in the small city of Hobart in Tasmania, Australia, in 1948. My parents were family physicians. My grandfather and great grandfather on my mother's side were geologists. Elizabeth Blackburn city great family mother I spent my first 4 years living in the tiny town of Snug, by the sea near Hobart. Curious about animals, I would pick up ants in our backyard and jellyfish on the beach. Elizabeth Blackburn animals curious sea beach Perhaps arising from a fascination with animals, biology seemed the most interesting of sciences to me as a child. Elizabeth Blackburn animals child me biology Tracing the beginnings of the interwoven stories of science can be arbitrary, as beginnings are so often lost in the mists of time. Elizabeth Blackburn beginnings lost time science For me, arguably the story of telomeres and telomerase began thousands of years ago, in the cornfields of the Maya highlands of Central America. Elizabeth Blackburn story me america years
