Now in our 13th year of bringing you beautiful imagery from biomedical science every day

Search the archive of over 4000 images

Born on this Day - in 1961 Tying Loose Ends
15 April 2018

Tying Loose Ends

Over time our chromosomes – the tight bundles of DNA that contain all our genetic information, pictured in blue – start to deteriorate at the tips like a loose piece of string fraying at the ends. So like shoelaces have that little protective aglet, chromosomes have telomeres (highlighted here in white) at their extremes – repetitive sections of DNA that act as a buffer against the wear and tear of life, taking the hit each time a cell divides. They can do this, as Carol Greider – born on this day – co-discovered in 1984, because a molecule called telomerase rebuilds their scraggly ends each time. But eventually even telomerase tires of its duty and as its efficiency declines, so does a cell’s health, making telomerase pivotal to many diseases, and so crucial to medicine that it earned Greider a share of a Nobel Prize in 2009.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Search The Archive

Submit An Image

Follow on Tumblr

Follow on Instagram

What is BPoD?

BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

Read More

BPoD is also available in Catalan at www.bpod.cat with translations by the University of Valencia.