A trio of researchers whose work on telomeres and telomerases has helped explain how chromosomes are copied during cell division will receive the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Their findings have advanced medical research in cancer, inherited diseases, and aging.
Elizabeth Blackburn, a biochemist at the University of California, San Francisco, Carol Greider, a geneticist at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and Jack Szostak, a geneticist at Harvard Medical School will share the prize equally. It is the first time two women have shared the Nobel. "I think this is a victory for curiosity-driven science," Greider, who got the call at 5AM on her way to spinning class, told The Scientist. "We are fortunate to live in a place where we can still get funding for conducting basic research to answer fundamental questions. I feel very privileged to have been able to follow my curiosity for the past ...
