Biography

In contrast to tumor cells, which can divide forever (are "immortal"), normal somatic human cells have a limited capacity to proliferate (are "mortal"). Telomeres are thought to be the "clock" that regulates how many times an individual cell can divide. Telomeric sequences shorten each time the DNA replicates. When at least some of the telomeres reach a critically short length, the cell stops dividing (is senescent), which may cause or contribute to some age-related diseases. Introduction of the telomerase catalytic protein component into normal human cells without detectable telomerase results in telomerase activity and an extension of life span. The cells with introduced telomerase maintain a normal chromosome complement and continue to grow in a normal manner. The development of better cellular models of human disease and production of human products are among the immediate applications of this new advance. This technology has the potential to produce unlimited quantities of normal human cells of virtually any tissue type. In the future, it may be possible to take a person's own cells, manipulate and rejuvenate them without using up their life span and then give them back to the patient. The manipulation of telomere length for cell and tissue engineering offers many biomedical opportunities. In collaboration with Brian Pilcher and Michael White, our laboratory is pursuing studies on the factors regulating the rate of telomere shortening in different cell types, the structure of telomeres, factors that interact with telomerase and regulate its action on telomeres, and the application of the ability to immortalize cells for the treatment of human diseases, such as muscular dystrophy and chronic ulcers.

Jerry Shay's Abstract