Nobel Prize Winner has Dyslexia

Excerpt of an article by Val Willingham, CNN Medical Producer

published December 7, 2009
on www.CNN.com

Molecular biologist Carol Greider, 48, is the youngest of the three researchers awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in October.

Born into a family of scientists -- her mother was a biologist; her father was a physicist -- Greider knew her passion was in the lab. Despite the reading, spelling, and writing frustrations caused by her dyslexia, she excelled in science.

Greider, 48, along with her mentor Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn from the University of California, San Francisco, and Harvard scientist Dr. Jack Szostak, were given the Novel Prize for their work with telomeres, which are the bits of repeating DNA at the end of our chromosomes. Telomeres protect the chromosomes, much like the plastic tips on shoelaces keep lace from fraying.

The research team was also recognized for its discovery of telomerase, which is the enzyme that causes the chromosome ends to stay intact when they divide. Understanding telomerase is important when looking for clues about aging and cures for degenerative diseases and cancer.

To read the entire article, go to:
www.dys-add.com/NobelPrizeMedicine.pdf