New insight into how telomeres protect cells from premature senescence

Researchers at the Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB) and Johannes Gutenberg University (JGU) in Mainz have further uncovered the secrets of telomeres, the caps that protect the ends of our chromosomes. They discovered that an RNA molecule called TERRA helps to ensure that very short (or broken) telomeres get fixed again. The work, which was recently published in the journal Cell, provides new insights into cellular processes that regulate cell senescence and survival in ageing and cancer. Read more about it in the press release here.