Background
In humans, aging is strongly correlated with the length of an individual's telomeres, the repetitive DNA at the ends of each chromosome. Each time a cell in the body divides, its telomeres become shorter. Eventually, telomeres will shorten to the point where the cell is unable to divide (the "Hayflick limit"). The enzyme telomerase adds these DNA sequence repeats to the telomere, re-lengthening it. In humans, telomerase is expressed in embryonic stem cells and some other cells, but most somatic cells do not express it.
While working at Geron Corporation, Andrews co-discovered the RNA component of human telomerase ("hTR"), and was issued U.S. patent #5,583,016. For this discovery, Andrews was awarded second place as "National Inventor of the Year" in 1997 by the Intellectual Property Owners Association. Andrews also co-discovered the protein component of human telomerase ("hTERT"), for which he was issued U.S. patent #6,261,836. The hTERT gene is present in all human cells, but is repressed in most.
In 1997, Andrews left Geron, and in 1999 founded Sierra Sciences to pursue the anti-aging implications of these discoveries, intending to find a drug that would "switch on" this repressed gene.
Read more about this topic: Sierra Sciences
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