The 2005 Benjamin Franklin medal in life sciences awarded to Elizabeth Blackburn

The Franklin Institute awarded the 2005 Franklin medal in life sciences to Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn for her pioneering work on understanding how the cell preserves the ends of chromosomes, telomeres, while replicating its DNA. Dr. Blackburn identified the sequence of telomere DNA, and found very simple repeat sequences that are interchangeable among many eukaryotic organisms. Subsequently, she discovered telomerase, the enzyme that ensures telomere maintenance, and demonstrated that telomerase has both RNA and protein components, with the RNA serving as the template for the reverse transcriptase. The dynamic nature of telomerase is linked to the replicative potential of the cell. Dr. Blackburn's work on telomeres has given new insights into aging and disease, including cancer.