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appeared 15 June 1999
Blackburn in Israel to Receive Harvey Prize
Elizabeth Blackburn, chair of the UCSF department of microbiology and immunology, is in
Israel this week to receive the prestigious Harvey Prize from the Technion, Israel
Institute of Technology. She is being honored for her pioneering studies that have
revealed the critical role of telomeres, segments of DNA that bind both ends of
chromosomes.
 The prize, which was first awarded in 1972, rewards excellence by
recognizing breakthroughs in science and technology. Robert Gallagher, professor of
electrical engineering and computer sciences at MIT, will also be awarded the Harvey
Prize.
Blackburn will receive the Harvey Prize in Human Health for 1999 on Wednesday, June 16 and
will give lectures to Technion's department of biology and medical school. While in
Israel, she will also give a lecture at the Hadassah medical school in Jerusalem.
Blackburn joined UCSF as a professor in 1990 and was the first woman named to head the
School of Medicine's department of microbiology and immunology three years
later.
A native of Australia, she has received numerous honors and awards, including being
elected in 1993 as a foreign associate to the National Academy of Sciences, one of the
highest honors that can be awarded to a scientist in the US. In 1998, she was awarded the
Passano Award and this year she was named the California Scientist of the Year.
Blackburn and her then PhD graduate student at UC Berkeley, Carol Greider, discovered a
novel enzyme that creates telomeres. Telomeres play a key role in determining the number
of times a cell divides -- an event that affects the life span and health of cells and the
development of some cancers. Blackburn's discovery has spawned a whole field of inquiry
into the possibility that the enzyme, telomerase, could be manipulated to prolong cell
life and combat cancer.
Links:
UCSF Department of
Microbiology
American Technion Society
Related Daybreak stories:
Blackburn Wins Two Major
Awards
Telomerase Finding
Suggests New Target for Extending Cell's Life Span
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