Ageing is so many different things, and cells being able to self-renew is part of the picture but not all of it.

- Elizabeth Blackburn

When you bring telomerase RNA levels down by using a mechanism that targets the RNA for destruction, the cells which were running on very high telomerase levels are now running on a lean diet of telomerase.

- Elizabeth Blackburn

Tracing the beginnings of the interwoven stories of science can be arbitrary, as beginnings are so often lost in the mists of time.

- Elizabeth Blackburn

In my early work, our molecular views of telomeres were first focused on the DNA.

- Elizabeth Blackburn

If we think of our chromosomes - they carry our genetic material - as being like shoelaces, I work on the plastic tips at the end that protect them.

- Elizabeth Blackburn

I'm pretty good about getting some exercise every day - well, most days. The secret for me was to put the elliptical in front of the TV.

- Elizabeth Blackburn

I was using very unconventional methods to sequence the telemetric DNA, originally.

- Elizabeth Blackburn

For me, arguably the story of telomeres and telomerase began thousands of years ago, in the cornfields of the Maya highlands of Central America.

- Elizabeth Blackburn

Challenges in medicine are moving from 'Treat the symptoms after the house is on fire' to 'Can we preserve the house intact?'

- Elizabeth Blackburn

Being senior enough in the field, having enough solidity, I don't feel afraid of being marginalized.

- Elizabeth Blackburn

At Cambridge, there was a completely unintimidating culture, and there were no class divisions among the students.

- Elizabeth Blackburn

I chose biochemistry as my major and graduated after 4 years with an Honours degree in Biochemistry. During that time, I had come to love biochemistry research, although I was just getting my feet wet in laboratory research.

- Elizabeth Blackburn

The goal is to learn more about telomere length and other markers of ageing, how best to measure these markers, how they are related to health and lifestyle, and how people respond to learning their own telomere length results.

- Elizabeth Blackburn

Exercise mitigates the effects of stress - and stress, we know, shortens telomeres. In fact, early studies indicate that stress reduction techniques like meditation help people maintain the length of their telomeres.

- Elizabeth Blackburn

Perhaps arising from a fascination with animals, biology seemed the most interesting of sciences to me as a child.

- Elizabeth Blackburn

If a test showed you had telomere shortening, it would be a red flag suggesting you should take a look at possible risk factors.

- Elizabeth Blackburn

I've only actively promoted what we always hope is good science.

- Elizabeth Blackburn

Biology sometimes reveals its fundamental principles through what may seem at first to be arcane and bizarre.

- Elizabeth Blackburn

What is it that keeps you so interested in the telomere? It's so intricate and complicated, and you want to know how it works.

- Elizabeth Blackburn

In 2004, results from a study that I worked on with colleagues at the University of California, San Francisco, linked chronic stress to shortening of telomeres.

- Elizabeth Blackburn