Elizabeth Blackburn

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Elizabeth Blackburn in March 2009

Elizabeth Helen "Liz" Blackburn AC (born November 26, 1948 in Hobart , Tasmania ) is an Australian - American molecular biologist , who is particularly known for her work in the field of telomere and telomerase research. In 2007 she was named one of the "100 Most Influential Personalities in the World" by Time magazine . She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 2009 together with Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak .

Scientific career

Blackburn studied biology at the University of Melbourne and obtained a B.Sc. in 1970. "And in 1972 an" M.Sc. ". She received her doctorate (" Ph.D. ") in 1975 from the University of Cambridge in England . She then worked as a postdoc at Yale University (1975–1977). In 1978 she received a call from the University of California at Berkeley , where she became a professor in the Department of Molecular Biology . Since 1990 she has been with the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at UCSF in San Francisco , where she holds the Morris-Herzstein Professorship in Biology and Physiology.

Elizabeth Blackburn discovered telomerase in 1984 together with her then PhD student Carol W. Greider in unicellular ciliates of the genus Tetrahymena and described it for the first time in 1985. In the following years she genetically and biochemically characterized telomerase in various species. She has since published numerous important papers on telomerase, the enzyme that is essential for telomeric renewal.

She is co-founder of Telome Health Inc. , which researches the connection between telomere length and the development of diseases in humans and wants to offer interested patients tests to determine their teloma lengths.

In January 2016, she became the first woman in this position to take on the role of President of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla .

The Australian Blackburn lives in San Francisco and has also been a US citizen since 2003 . She has a son with her husband, John W. Sedat.

Awards and honors (selection)

She has received numerous honors and scientific awards for her work:

Fonts (selection)

  • Carol W. Greider and Elizabeth H. Blackburn: A telomeric sequence in the RNA of Tetrahymena telomerase required for telomere repeat synthesis. In: Nature . Volume 337, No. 6205, 1989, pp. 331-337. PMID 2463488 doi: 10.1038 / 337331a0
  • Carol W. Greider and Elizabeth H. Blackburn (): Identification of a specific telomere terminal transferase activity in tetrahymena extracts. In: Cell . Volume 43, No. 2, 1985, pp. 405-413. PMID 3907856 doi: 10.1016 / 0092-8674 (85) 90170-9
  • (With Elissa Epel): Deciphering Aging - The Telomere Effect. Munich 2017.

literature

  • Nicole Heissmann: The formula for a long life. Nobel laureate Elizabeth Blackburn researches why people age differently, in: Stern No. 10, March 2, 2017, pp. 30–37.

Web links

Commons : Elizabeth Blackburn  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Information from the Nobel Foundation on the 2009 award ceremony to Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak (English)
  2. ↑ spiegel.de of May 18, 2011: "Tests for Life Expectancy: Good Business with the 'Fuses of Death'"
    Mitch Leslie: Are Telomere Tests Ready for Prime Time? In: Science . Volume 332, No. 6028, 2011, pp. 414-415, doi: 10.1126 / science.332.6028.414
  3. ^ Elizabeth Blackburn to lead Salk Institute. On: sciencemag.org of November 18, 2015, doi: 10.1126 / science.aad7456
  4. ^ Member History: Elizabeth H. Blackburn. American Philosophical Society, accessed May 3, 2018 (English, with a short biography).
  5. ↑ Genetics Laureates at gruberprizes.org; Retrieved June 15, 2011
personal data
SURNAME Blackburn, Elizabeth
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Blackburn, Elizabeth; Blackburn Liz H .; Blackburn, Elizabeth Helen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American molecular biologist; 2009 received the Nobel Prize in Medicine
DATE OF BIRTH November 26, 1948
PLACE OF BIRTH Hobart , Tasmania