Elizabeth Blackburn – First NIDCR Nobel Laureate

Along with two other researchers, NIDCR grantee Elizabeth Blackburn discovered that telomeres, the end caps of chromosomes, keep DNA from degrading during cell division and identified telomerase, the enzyme that produces them. For insights with profound implications for cancer treatment and the study of aging, Blackburn received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in Stockholm in December.