Carol W. Greider

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Quotes

Telomeres are the components of chromosome ends that provide stability and allow the complete replication of the ends. Telomere length is maintained by a balance between processes that lengthen and those that shorten telomeres. Telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein polymerase that specifically elongates telomeres. In human cells telomere length is not maintained and telomerase is not active in some tissues. In tumors, however, telomerase is active and may be required for the growth of cancer cells. Thus understanding telomerase and telomere length regulation may help us understand tumor progression. Evidence from various organisms suggests that several factors influence telomere length regulation, such as telomere binding proteins, telomere capping proteins, telomerase, and DNA replication enzymes. Understanding how these factors interact to coordinate the regulation of telomere length will allow a more complete understanding of telomere function in the cell.
- (July 1996) "Telomere length regulation". Annual Review of Biochemistry 65 (1): 337–365.

I learned many important lessons that first year after the initial telomerase discovery. Mostly, I learned the importance of questioning your own assumptions. We did not set out to prove we had a new enzyme, rather we imagined all the ways our own thinking could be deceiving us and allowing us to interpret our results in a way that favored our bias. I learned that getting the correct answer is more important than getting an answer you might hope for. I learned to step aside from myself and view my data through the eyes of a skeptic. We worked for a year before we convinced ourselves that the telomere terminal transferase was indeed a unique activity. The initial discovery was in December of 1984 and the paper was published in Cell in December 1985.
- Grandin, Karl, ed (2010). "Carol W. Greider – Biographical". Les Prix Nobel / The Nobel Prizes 2009. Stockholm: Nobel Foundation.

... sometimes you can't know what is most interesting to you until you're actually in the environment.
- (May 6, 2014) "Scientific Discovery with Carol Greider - Conversations with History". University of California Television (UCTV), YouTube. (quote at 9:24 of 57:07 in video; interview hosted by Harry Kreisler, recorded on March 4, 2014)

The function of telomeres in terms of this protective cap — that's what H. J. Muller and Barbara McClintock showed … Muller was working in Drosophila and McClintock in corn or maize … there must be something protective at the end, because when you break that chromosome end … you get the chromosome is either degraded or it will fuse with other chromosomes. So they were the first to functionally define the telomere as we just described it. And then it was in the 1970s that Elizabeth Blackburn, working together with Joe Gall, showed the molecular characteristics of the telomere. So they defined the actual DNA sequence at the time. Then understanding that molecular characteristic, we could then go forward and ask questions about how the end of the telomere is maintained.
- quote at 17:55 in video

… this is something that I talk to students about often ... when you have something that's new and exciting, rather than saying, oh, I want to find evidence to support my hypothesis — instead, we tried to bash down our own hypothesis. And to find way to knock it down, to find out, how could this possibly be wrong? Because I would rather disprove my own crazy idea than have somebody else disprove it.
- quote at 29:50 in video