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" In my early work, our molecular views of telomeres were first focused on the DNA. "
Elizabeth Blackburn
DNA
Early
First
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" The goal is to learn more about telomere length and other markers of ageing, how best to measure these markers, how they are related to health and lifestyle, and how people respond to learning their own telomere length results. "
Elizabeth Blackburn
Learning
Goal
Best
" Studying organisms at a molecular level was totally compelling because it was moving from being a naturalist, which was the 19th-century kind of science, to being very focused and really getting to the heart of these molecules. "
Elizabeth Blackburn
Studying
Science
Moving
" Being senior enough in the field, having enough solidity, I don't feel afraid of being marginalized. "
Elizabeth Blackburn
Feel
Afraid
Enough
" The most dangerous cancer cells are actually the ones that are more like stem cells, which have this ability to produce themselves over and over again. More and more cancer biologists say stem-cell-like cells in cancers are the most dangerous. "
Elizabeth Blackburn
Cancer
Cells
Dangerous
" This enzyme, called telomerase, slows the rate at which telomeres degrade, and research indicates that healthy people with longer telomeres have less risk of developing the common illnesses of aging - like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, which are three big killers today. "
Elizabeth Blackburn
People
Aging
Today
" We're collecting about 100,000 telomere lengths in saliva samples and then looking at how those relate to both the extensive longitudinal clinical records that Kaiser is collecting and the genome sequence variations. "
Elizabeth Blackburn
Collecting
Genome
Looking
" I'm pretty good about getting some exercise every day - well, most days. The secret for me was to put the elliptical in front of the TV. "
Elizabeth Blackburn
Day
Me
Exercise
" In 2004, results from a study that I worked on with colleagues at the University of California, San Francisco, linked chronic stress to shortening of telomeres. "
Elizabeth Blackburn
Colleagues
California
Results
" One characteristic aspect of ageing is the increased susceptibility to disease, particularly age-related diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and cancer. "
Elizabeth Blackburn
Ageing
Cancer
Cardiovascular
" What is it that keeps you so interested in the telomere? It's so intricate and complicated, and you want to know how it works. "
Elizabeth Blackburn
You
Want
Know
" In humans, the thing is that as we mature, our telomeres slowly wear down. So the question has always been: 'Did that matter?' Well, more and more, it seems like it matters. "
Elizabeth Blackburn
Down
Always
Mature
" Telomeres are the protective caps at the ends of chromosomes in cells. Chromosomes carry the genetic information. Telomeres are buffers. They are like the tips of shoelaces. If you lose the tips, the ends start fraying. "
Elizabeth Blackburn
Lose
You
Cells
" Biology sometimes reveals its fundamental principles through what may seem at first to be arcane and bizarre. "
Elizabeth Blackburn
Biology
Through
Sometimes
" Cancer cells have had so many other things go wrong with them, genetic, non-genetic changes, that those cells, one of the things they then get selected for is that they have lots of telomerase because now the telomeres in those cells get maintained. "
Elizabeth Blackburn
Now
Cells
Go
" As maize became important for human food worldwide, modern agricultural research on maize breeding continued the corn breeding begun thousands of years ago in the Central American highlands. "
Elizabeth Blackburn
Food
American
Research
" We're involved in a very large study that's federally funded and being done with Kaiser Permanente, and saliva is a very non-invasive way to get cells from the body. "
Elizabeth Blackburn
Body
Involved
Cells
" Perhaps arising from a fascination with animals, biology seemed the most interesting of sciences to me as a child. "
Elizabeth Blackburn
Me
Biology
Interesting
" Ageing is so many different things, and cells being able to self-renew is part of the picture but not all of it. "
Elizabeth Blackburn
Different
Picture
Being
" At Cambridge, there was a completely unintimidating culture, and there were no class divisions among the students. "
Elizabeth Blackburn
Culture
Cambridge
Students
" I was using very unconventional methods to sequence the telemetric DNA, originally. "
Elizabeth Blackburn
Unconventional
DNA
Methods
" I spent my first 4 years living in the tiny town of Snug, by the sea near Hobart. Curious about animals, I would pick up ants in our backyard and jellyfish on the beach. "
Elizabeth Blackburn
Curious
Animals
Living
" Checking your telomere length is a bit like weighing yourself: you get this single number which depends on a lot of factors. Telomere length gives a sense of your underlying health. "
Elizabeth Blackburn
Get
Like
Health
" We think there are lifestyle factors that boost telomerase naturally. "
Elizabeth Blackburn
Naturally
Factors
Lifestyle
" Medicine has been successful by treating diseases in a very specific way once the damage is done. But telomere length integrates a lot of factors together and gives you an overall picture of risk for what is now emerging as a lot of diseases that tend to occur together, such as diabetes and heart disease. "
Elizabeth Blackburn
Together
You
Picture
" We and other groups are seeing clear statistical links between telomere shortness and risk for a variety of diseases that are becoming very common, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and certain cancers. "
Elizabeth Blackburn
Diabetes
Variety
Seeing
" No one ever said, 'Be a doctor.' But because so many members of my extended family - aunts, uncles - were doctors, there was this expectation that I'd probably be a physician. "
Elizabeth Blackburn
Because
Doctor
Family
" Researchers have found that the brain definitely sends nerves directly to organs of the immune system and not just to the heart and the lower gut. In that way, too, the brain is influencing the body. "
Elizabeth Blackburn
Gut
Way
Brain
" Exercise mitigates the effects of stress - and stress, we know, shortens telomeres. In fact, early studies indicate that stress reduction techniques like meditation help people maintain the length of their telomeres. "
Elizabeth Blackburn
Stress
Exercise
Help
" I've only actively promoted what we always hope is good science. "
Elizabeth Blackburn
Good
Always
Hope
" When scientists get old, they get interested in the brain, and I'm a little bit afraid I'm falling into that. "
Elizabeth Blackburn
Afraid
Falling
Get