Elizabeth Blackburn: Because science is worth it

E lizabeth Blackburn is the leading lady of telomere biology. Her discovery of telomerase with her graduate student Carol Greider in 1985 revealed for the fi rst time how the complex, repetitive ends of chromosomes—regions that normal DNA replication machinery can't cope with—are maintained (1).< I D > J C B 1 8 0 6 p i 1. e p s < / I D > Without telomerase, our chromosomes would shorten incrementally with each cell division, thereby putting telomere-adjacent genes at risk of being gradually eroded. Indeed Black-burn showed that telomerase activity is necessary for the indefi nite replicative capacity of cells (2), as shortening telo-meres initiate cellular senescence. This work led to the suggestion that cancer cells, which replicate excessively, might be tamed by curtailing the action of telomerase (3). Blackburn has published over 150 papers on telomerase and telomeres and has won numerous awards for her work, including the Lasker prize (often referred to as the American Nobel). She's a fellow of the Royal Society and an associate of the National Academy of Sciences, and she's also a wife and mother. Each year, the L'Oreal cosmetic company pairs up with UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientifi c and Cultural Organization) to present awards to outstanding female scientists around the world. The aim is to highlight these women as role models for a younger generation of women scientists. In a recent interview, Blackburn explained what it meant to her to receive this particular award and why she'd urge more women to stay in science. Do you think your parents' careers as physicians infl uenced you toward science? In my mind, science and medicine were very different. A number of my other relatives were also in medicine. So, science was somehow almost a rebellious thing to do. The main infl u-ence my parents' careers had on me was that it gave me the idea that women and men were equivalent in careers. They were both physicians, they grew up at the same time, and they trained at the same time. Probably, the other infl uence it had was showing me that motherhood and career can go together. My mother worked part-time much of the time, as I was one of seven children! Wow. I have to say, none of us kids ended up having more than one or two children each. So, we kind of equalized the gene pool contribution …