Elizabeth Blackburn on the telomere effect: ‘It’s about keeping healthier for longer’

The Nobel winner says keeping telomeres - the ends of our chromosomes - in prime condition can stave off diseases associated with ageing

You won your Nobel prize for medicine for your discoveries concerning telomeres, found at the ends of chromosomes. What are telomeres and what happens to them as we age?
If you think of your chromosomes - which carry your genetic material - as shoelaces, telomeres are the little protective tips at the end. They are made of repeating short sequences of DNA sheathed in special proteins.

During our lives they tend to wear down and when telomeres can't protect chromosomes properly, cells can't replenish and they malfunction. This sets up physiological changes in the body which increase risks of the major conditions and diseases of ageing: cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, a weakened immune system and more. But the process is somewhat malleable. It is happening in all of us at some rate, but the rate can change. An enzyme called telomerase can add DNA to the ends of chromosomes to slow, prevent and partially reverse the shortening.