Elizabeth Blackburn

University of California, San Francisco

Elizabeth Blackburn discovered telomerase — the enzyme that replenishes the protective caps at the ends of chromosomes — work for which she shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Her research established that telomere shortening is a molecular clock of cellular aging and linked telomere dysfunction to cancer and age-related conditions. She served as President of the Salk Institute and holds foundational patents underlying telomerase-targeted cancer therapies in clinical development.