Of wombats and whales: telomere tales in Madrid. Conference on telomeres and telomerase.

Introduction In November 2006, a diverse group of telomere researchers gathered in Madrid to celebrate two high-profile recognitions. First, the 2003 Josef Steiner Cancer Research award to Maria Blasco allowed her to organize this Cancer Conference with the help of Jerry Shay. Blasco was honoured for her contributions to our understanding of the connections between telomere function and cancer development. This task was made possible by the discovery of telo merase—the ribonucleoprotein enzyme that extends the telomere repeat tracts that comprise the terminal DNA sequences of each chromosome. Second, it was for this crucial discovery that Elizabeth Blackburn, Jack Szostak