Elizabeth Blackburn

On fighting for truth, inclusion and the next generation of scientists

- BY RACHEL NUWER

ELIZABETH BLACKBURN IS A MOLECULAR BIOLOGIST and biochemist.

She is a former president of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and an emerita faculty member at the University of California, San Francisco. In 2009 she shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for uncovering the structure of telomeres, the protective tips at the ends of our chromosomes that help to safeguard DNA, and for helping to discover telomerase, the enzyme that keeps those tips intact. Blackburn has also received numerous other major awards in science, including the Lasker, Gruber and Gairdner prizes.

An edited transcript of the interview follows. For the full conversation, visit www.ScientificAmerican.com

How would you describe the current state of American science?

I'd say it’s under siege and under assault. The assault is coming from various factors, and one of them has been the systematic attacks on science and its funding and support from the current administration.