Dr Elizabeth Blackburn - Infinite Women

Born: 26 November 1948, Australia
Died: NA
Country most active: United States
Also known as: NA

The following bio was written by Emma Rosen, author of On This Day She Made History: 366 Days With Women Who Shaped the World and This Day In Human Ingenuity & Discovery: 366 Days of Scientific Milestones with Women in the Spotlight, and has been republished with permission.

Elizabeth Helen Blackburn, born on November 26, 1948, holds dual Australian and American citizenship and previously served as President of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. In 1984, Blackburn and Carol W. Greider jointly discovered telomerase, the enzyme responsible for telomere replenishment. This groundbreaking achievement led to their winning the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2009, with Blackburn making history as the first Australian woman Nobel laureate.
In addition to her scientific work, Blackburn also contributed to the medical ethics field. Her time on the President’s Council on Bioethics during the Bush administration ended amid controversy when she was dismissed. A group of 170 prominent scientists supported her, asserting that her removal was due to political differences regarding her advisory role.
During her postdoctoral work at Yale, Blackburn focused on the protozoan Tetrahymena thermophila, uncovering a repeating codon at the end of its linear rDNA and a palindromic TTAGGG sequence at chromosome terminals. Collaborating with Jack Szostak, they confirmed these sequences’ protective role for unstable yeast plasmids, demonstrating their telomere-like characteristics.
Their work proposed the existence of an enzyme with reverse transcriptase activity responsible for adding hexanucleotides to chromosomes. This 1985 discovery, followed by enzyme purification, revealed RNA and protein components working in tandem. The RNA acted as a template for adding telomeric repeats to incomplete telomeres, while the protein facilitated the enzymatic function needed for repeat addition.
This pivotal breakthrough introduced the term “telomerase,” solving the long-standing puzzle of the end-replication process and revolutionizing the field of biology.