Elizabeth Blackburn, Salk's Nobel Prize–winning president, gives TED talk about healthy aging

30 de noviembre de 2017

Elizabeth Blackburn, presidenta de Salk ganadora del Premio Nobel, da una charla TED sobre envejecimiento saludable

30 de noviembre de 2017

LA JOLLA—Elizabeth Blackburn, la primera presidenta mujer del Instituto Salk y una de las solo 12 mujeres en haber ganado el Premio Nobel de Fisiología o Medicina, habló sobre su pionera investigación científica sobre los cromosomas—y sus implicaciones para envejecer bien—en un Charla de TED que debutó esta semana. La charla, que tuvo lugar en abril en Vancouver, Canadá, fue parte de la conferencia TED de 2017, un evento anual de una semana que presenta a los pensadores y profesionales más prominentes del mundo explorando las preguntas más apremiantes de nuestro tiempo e imaginando cómo podría ser nuestro futuro compartido.

 

In her talk, Blackburn spoke about her research on a tiny freshwater creature named tetrahymena, which she affectionately calls “pond scum.” In studying tetrahymena and, specifically, the protective caps at the ends of chromosomes called telomeres that shorten with age, Blackburn discovered something amazing: the telomeres of tetrahymena were being maintained in a way no one had appreciated previously. She explained how her scientific curiosity and investigation into the long-living pond scum sent her on a journey that shed light on one of humanity’s biggest and oldest questions—why and how we age. Her work led to the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the telomere-maintaining enzyme telomerase, for which she shared the Nobel Prize.

Since then, Blackburn and her collaborators have discovered that many factors influence telomere length in humans, for whom telomerase is only active during the earliest stages of cellular development. These factors include genetics, to some degree—but also exercise, diet, stress and attitudes about adversity. So even though telomere shortening is associated with many diseases, things that are within our control can help us maintain our telomeres and thus a longer period of our lives when we are healthy, which she terms “healthspan.”

Prior to her TED talk, Blackburn, along with health psychologist Elissa Epel, wrote about the implications of taking care of our telomeres in the 2015 New York Times bestselling book The Telomere Effect: A Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier, Longer.

In addition to the Nobel Prize, Blackburn has received nearly every major award in science, including the Lasker, Gruber and Gairdner prizes. She was named to the TIME 100 in 2007, the magazine’s yearly list of the most influential people in the world, and in 2016 was also chosen by TIME as one of 46 women “who broke ground in their fields” and were “pioneers in history.”

Along with being a champion of women in science throughout her distinguished career, Blackburn has shown an abiding commitment to public service in the scientific, academic and public policy arenas. She has served as president of both the American Association of Cancer Research and the American Society for Cell Biology, as well as serving on the editorial boards of several scientific journals, including Célula y Ciencia. Additionally, she was a member of the Stem Cell Research Advisory Panel for the California State Legislature and a member of the President’s Council of Bioethics, an advisory committee to the President of the United States.