[Telomeres: a Nobel Prize at the beginning… of the end].

The 2009 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine was awarded to Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack K. Szostak for their work on telomeres and telomerase. This prize acknowledges their pionneering discoveries on chromosomal extremities. Telomeres are the nucleoproteic complexes that may be found at the ends of linear chromosomes. They are essential for genomic stability and are involved in aging and tumorogenesis.