biologist Elizabeth Blackburn has won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.Hobart-born Elizabeth Blackburn has won the Nobel for physiology or medicine.
Professor Blackburn shares the Nobel with her former graduate student, Carol Greider, from Johns Hopkins University’s school of medicine, and Harvard’s Jack Szostak.
Her discovery of telomeres, caps on the ends of chromosomes which protect genetic information, has opened up new lines of inquiry into growth, ageing and disease. Her work with psychologists on telomeres, stress and meditation seems to prove a mind-body connection.
Dr Blackburn, 60, a Hobart-born graduate of Melbourne University who has worked in the US for many years, was one of the favourites for the Nobel for physiology or medicine.
Australia’s last two laureates, gastroenterologist Barry Marshall and pathologist Robin Warren, continued their tradition of sharing a beer in Perth around the time of the announcement.READ MORE
