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‘Immortality
enzyme’ wins US trio Nobel
Three American scientists won the Nobel Prize in medicine for
research on cell division and the “immortality enzyme” that can
help them multiply without damage, illuminating conditions
including cancer and ageing.
Elizabeth Blackburn, 60, a professor at the University of
California in San Francisco; Carol Greider, 48, a professor at
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore; and Jack
Szostak, 56, a professor at Harvard Medical School in Boston, will
share the 10 million-Swedish kronor ($1.4 million) prize equally,
the Nobel Assembly said in Stockholm. It’s the first time two
women have jointly won the prize.
Their research explored a fundamental question of life: How
chromosomes that carry the genetic code in DNA are copied in their
entirety each time a cell divides. The key is the end of the
chromosome, where caps known as telomeres reside. An enzyme
discovered by the researchers, dubbed telomerase, prevents the end
from being shaved off and maintains the health of the cell as it
replicates — earning it the title of “immortality enzyme”.
“This is a tremendous victory for curiosity-driven science,”
Greider said. “We had a simple question of how chromosomes are
maintained. It turns out there are major medical implications.”
AGENCIES DNA Cap On Ageing
Telomeres cap chromosomes much like the plastic caps on
shoelaces and protect against DNA damage Telomeres get shorter as
cells divide, unless the cells contain enzyme telomerase Age
block: If telomerase levels are kept high, cellular ageing is
braked Cancer block: By blocking it, cancerous cells can be
prevented from multiplying ‘Nobel study’ boosts cancer fight
Research on the enzyme telomerase, for which three American
scientists won the Nobel this year, can help find treatments to
several diseases, including inherited forms of aplastic anaemia,
when the bone marrow doesn’t produce enough blood cells, and
genetic forms of skin and lung ailments.
The most intense research has been in cancer, where malignant
cells have the ability to divide indefinitely, and in ageing,
which occurs in the cells when telomeres are shortened.
Carol Greider, one of the winners, is a former triathlete who
was preparing for a bicycling spin class when she got the call
from the Nobel committee on Monday morning. She likened the
group’s work to that of auto mechanics. It’s impossible to fix a
broken carburettor if you don’t know how it normally works, she
said.
“That’s what happens inside cells,” Greider said before taking
her two children, aged 9 and 13, to school. “When you have that
fundamental understanding of how it works, when disease comes
along you can understand what went wrong. Now we know both cancer
and degenerative disease have major implications with telomerase.”
Greider was a graduate student in Nobel co-winner Elizabeth
Blackburn’s laboratory at the University of California in
Berkeley. They join eight other female Nobel laureates in
physiology or medicine, of the 192 individuals awarded the prize
since 1901. BLOOMBERG Fair Share Of Ultimate Honour?
Three US scientists, including 2 women, shared the Nobel Prize in
medicine for research linked to telomerase, an IMMORTALITY ENZYME
that allows cells to divide continuously without dying and could
play a role in the uncontrolled spread of cancer cells
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