Carol W. Greider

Carol W. Greider
Greider in 2021
Born
Carolyn Widney Greider

(1961-04-15) April 15, 1961 (age 63)
EducationUniversity of California, Santa Barbara (BA)
University of Göttingen
University of California, Berkeley (PhD)
Known forDiscovery of telomerase
Spouse
(m. 1993; div. 2011)
Children2
AwardsRichard Lounsbery Award (2003)
Lasker Award (2006)
Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize (2007)
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (2009)
Scientific career
FieldsMolecular biology
InstitutionsCold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
University of California, Santa Cruz
ThesisIdentification of a specific telomere terminal transferase activity in Tetrahymena extracts (1985)
Doctoral advisorElizabeth Blackburn
Other academic advisorsBeatrice M. Sweeney
David J. Asai
Leslie Wilson

Carolyn Widney Greider (born April 15, 1961) is an American molecular biologist and Nobel laureate. She joined the University of California, Santa Cruz as a Distinguished Professor in the department of molecular, cell, and developmental biology[1] in October 2020.

Greider discovered the enzyme telomerase in 1984, while she was a graduate student of Elizabeth Blackburn at the University of California, Berkeley. Greider pioneered research on the structure of telomeres, the ends of the chromosomes. She was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, along with Blackburn and Jack W. Szostak, for their discovery that telomeres are protected from progressive shortening by the enzyme telomerase.[2]

  1. ^ Stephens, Tim. "Eminent biologist Carol Greider to join UC Santa Cruz faculty". UC Santa Cruz News. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
  2. ^ "Blackburn, Greider, and Szostak share Nobel". Dolan DNA Learning Center. Archived from the original on October 22, 2009. Retrieved October 5, 2009.