Elizabeth Blackburn

At a glance

• Elizabeth Blackburn is an Australian-American molecular biologist and Nobel laureate. She was long a professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and served as president of the Salk Institute from 2016 to 2018.
• She studied telomeres, the protective ends of chromosomes that shorten slightly with each cell division.
• In 1984 she co-discovered telomerase, the enzyme that can replenish telomeres, with Carol Greider. For this she shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Greider and Jack Szostak.
• She later worked with psychologist Elissa Epel on how stress and lifestyle relate to telomere length. Together they wrote The Telomere Effect (2017).
• She served on the US President’s Council on Bioethics and has received many scientific awards.
• For longevity, her work is fundamental: telomeres have become one of the best-known biological hallmarks of ageing.
• Takeaway: a single telomere test says little about you personally; invest instead in good sleep, exercise and limiting chronic stress.