Ageing is so many different things, and cells being able to self-renew is part of the picture but not all of it.
Interpretation
Ageing involves various biological processes, including cellular self-renewal, which are part of a complex picture.
In this quote, Elizabeth Blackburn emphasizes that aging cannot be defined solely by the biological ability of cells to regenerate. It encompasses a multitude of factors and processes, suggesting that our understanding of aging is complex and multifaceted, requiring a broader exploration beyond just cellular mechanisms.
In practice
In a lecture on longevity, this quote beautifully illustrates the complexity of the ageing process.
Cancer cells have had so many other things go wrong with them, genetic, non-genetic changes, that those cells, one of the things they then get selected for is that they have lots of telomerase because now the telomeres in those cells get maintained.
We and other groups are seeing clear statistical links between telomere shortness and risk for a variety of diseases that are becoming very common, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and certain cancers.
Checking your telomere length is a bit like weighing yourself: you get this single number which depends on a lot of factors. Telomere length gives a sense of your underlying health.
We think there are lifestyle factors that boost telomerase naturally.
For me, arguably the story of telomeres and telomerase began thousands of years ago, in the cornfields of the Maya highlands of Central America.
If we think of our chromosomes - they carry our genetic material - as being like shoelaces, I work on the plastic tips at the end that protect them.
Science is nothing but developed perception, interpreted intent, common sense rounded out and minutely articulated.
The apex of mathematical achievement occurs when two or more fields which were thought to be entirely unrelated turn out to be closely intertwined. Mathematicians have never decided whether they should feel excited or upset by such events.
In the process of natural selection, then, any device that can insert a higher proportion of certain genes into subsequent generations will come to characterize the species.
The last thing that man will understand in nature is the performance of his brain.
I suppose I can live with missing decimals, missing floors to tall buildings, and floors that are named instead of numbered. A more serious problem is the limited capacity of the human mind to grasp the relative magnitudes of large numbers. Counting at the rate of one number per second...to count to a trillion takes 32,000 years, which is as much time as has elapsed since people first drew on cave walls.
If you could see the earth illuminated when you were in a place as dark as night, it would look to you more splendid than the moon.
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