Word: geron
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Since telomerase keeps these tenacious cells going, is it reasonable to assume that the same enzyme could be used artificially to help mortal cells--and the body itself--exceed their programmed life-span? At Geron Corp., a San Francisco-based biomedical firm, biologist Calvin Harley is trying to find out. Harley, who collaborated with Greider on her later telomere work, is looking for the genes that direct telomerase production, believing he might be able to manipulate them so that the spigot for the enzyme can be turned on and off at will. "I think we are going to see fundamental...
...discovery announced last week that cancer cells rely on the enzyme telomerase to stay alive opens up a different attack strategy. The leader of that research team, Calvin Harley, has taken a leave from McMaster University to work at Geron Corp. in Menlo Park, California. The company is trying to craft a drug that will block the action of telomerase. "The cancer cell," explains Harley, "is already very old. If we can inhibit telomerase, we might cause the tumor to die after a few doublings." Even better, the fact that cancer cells produce telomerase and that normal cells (save...