New Discovery In The Aging Process
Wednesday, June 15, 2011 - 10:40
in Biology & Nature
In 2009, Elizabeth. H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of telomerase, an enzyme that replenishes the telomeres (see figure 1), DNA sequences at the endings of the chromosomes which appear to play a very important role in the aging process. This process, however, is far from being completely elucidated.Figure 1: Human chromosomes, with the telomeres highlighted. (Source: National Institute of General Medical Sciences)read more