The maintenance and masking of chromosome termini.

Telomeres, the natural termini of eukaryotic chromosomes, have been the subject of intense interest during the last decade because of the roles that these chromosome termini perform in both cancer and aging. As we become more cognizant of the consequences of telomere dysfunction on several aspects of human health, significant attention is focused on understanding at a molecular level how the many telomere-associated factors perform their activities.

Telomeres in the '80s: a few recollections.

Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider and Jack Szostak were recently recognized with the Lasker award for their work on telomerase and the role of this enzyme in cellular proliferation. Vicki Lundblad reflects on the excitement as these experiments were unfolding.

The biological sciences section program at the 60th Annual Meeting of the Gerontological Society of America.

In this era of genomics and other exciting technical advances, research on the biology of aging is undergoing a renaissance. This report summarizes 10 cutting-edge areas of research covered in symposia that spanned such topics as stem cells, novel vaccine strategies, nutritional sensing, new concepts of Parkinson's disease, high throughput screening for aging interventions, manipulating telomerase in cancer and immunodeficiency, synergy between aging and HIV disease, and epigenetic influences on aging. Novel animal models, including those showing no evidence of aging, as well as ethical and political implications of embryonic stem cells and alternative medicine are also discussed.

Telomere replication: an Est fest.

The search for subunits of the telomerase enzyme has uncovered orthologs of the budding years Est1 protein in several species, including humans. Thus, positive regulation of telomerase by Est1 appears to be a widely utilized mechanism for maintaining telomere length homeostasis.