Dr Blackburn is Morris Herztein Professor of Biology and Physiology in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco.  Her research into the telomere, a structure that protects the chromosome and therefore plays a role in aging and genetic damage, earned her the award. (Right: Telomeric structure forming a loop that caps the end of telomeres. Rendered using PyMOL.)

Telomeres are the ends of chromosomes and can be thought of as protecting them from fraying, like protective caps on the tips of shoe laces.  Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes, lengths of carefully packaged up DNA, in every cell and, because chromosomes are mostly X shaped, each has four telomeres.
 
Because telomeres get shorter and shorter throughout life, they are associated both with protecting genetic material from damage and with the process of aging.  Their discovery and the mechanisms required for their maintenance are absolutely fundamental to our understanding of biology.
 
Dr Blackburn, with two other scientists, co-discovered telomerase, the enzyme that replenishes the telomere, and was awarded the Nobel Prize last year in recognition of this work.
 
Professor Mike Ferguson, Dean of Research, (left) said, “Everyone at the College is delighted to welcome Elizabeth Blackburn to Dundee to deliver the 2010 Peter Garland Lecture.
 
“Obviously, she is in great demand and we very much appreciate her coming to visit us.  She will be talking and sharing ideas with many of our research scientists while she is here, including some of our younger up and coming scientific stars over dinner on Royal Research Ship Discovery."
 
The Peter Garland Lecture is the College of Life Sciences' most prestigious lecture, named in honour of the first Professor of Biochemistry in Dundee, who from 1970 to 1984 established the University as one of the UK’s strongest life sciences departments.