Elizabeth Blackburn and the Story of Telomeres: Deciphering the Ends of DNA

by Catherine Brady

Despite the gratification and prestige they bestow, prizes are also problematic. Often, award rules stipulate that only one person may be recognized, perpetuating the image of the lone scientist hero when so much of the research in molecular biology, as in other fields, is as delicately interconnected as the components of an ecosystem. Collaborators may learn from one another and part ways, competitors may spur each other on in ways that enhance their respective research, and in the best case, researchers eagerly share ideas, results, and techniques. Biological research today is also moving toward big-team science—as, for example, in the massive number of collaborators on the human genome project— a reality at odds with the emphasis on individual achievement. Two competitors, approaching the same problem differently, may both arrive at solutions more or less simultaneously, so that it is difficult, if not impossible, to award one of them first place and the other second. As a side effect of the tournament mentality, “junior” collaborators (postdocs or grad students) may fail to receive equal recognition for their role. Conscious that her work on telomerase was a collaboration between equal partners, whenever Blackburn is honored for her work on telomerase, she raises the question of whether the award should be shared with Greider and often insists on the point.