Elizabeth Blackburn
Helen Elizabeth " Liz " Blackburn AC ( * November 26, 1948 in Hobart, Tasmania ) is an Australian-American molecular biologist, who was known for her work in the area of telomere and telomerase research. In 2007, she was named by Time magazine as one of the " 100 most influential people in the world". She was awarded Carol W. Greider, along with Jack W. Szostak and the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 2009.
Academic Career
Blackburn studied biology at the University of Melbourne in 1970 and earned the title of " B.Sc. " and a 1972 " M.Sc. ". The doctoral degree ( " Ph.D." ) she received in 1975 from the University of Cambridge in England. She then worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University ( 1975-1977 ). In 1978, she received a call from the University of California at Berkeley, where he became a professor at the Department of Molecular Biology. Since 1990 she has worked in San Francisco at the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, UCSF, where she holds the Morris Heart Stone Professor of Biology and Physiology.
Elizabeth Blackburn telomerase in 1984 with her then graduate student Carol Greider W. discovered in unicellular ciliates of the genus Tetrahymena and 1985 first described. In the following years she has characterized telomerase in different species genetically and biochemically. She has published since many important work on telomerase, the enzyme that is essential for the renewal of telomeres.
She co-founded the company telomerase Health Inc., the patient wants to explore the relationship between telomere length and the development of diseases in humans and interested to offer tests to determine their Telomlängen.
Blackburn was born in Australia but since 2003 also a U.S. citizen. She is married to John W. Sedat, the family has a child.
Awards and Honors
For Her work has received numerous honors and scientific awards, including the 1988 Eli Lilly and Company Research Award, the 1990 National Academy of Sciences Award in Molecular Biology, 1998 Gairdner Foundation International Award and the Prix Charles -Léopold Mayer, 1999 Keith R. Porter Lecture and the Keio Medical Science Prize, the 2001 Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. prize and the EB Wilson Medal, 2004 AH Heineken Prize for Medicine; 2006 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, the Gruber Prize for Genetics and Meyenburg Award; 2007 Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize; 2008 Albany Medical Center Prize and a UNESCO L'Oréal Award; 2009 - Carol Greider, together with - the Paul- Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize and 2010-2011 President of the American Association for Cancer Research.
October 5, 2009 she was awarded Carol W. Greider, along with Jack W. Szostak and the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.