Three U.S. researchers were awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Medicine for their work on how chromosomes are protected against degradation, the Nobel Foundation reported Monday.
All human cells except steam cells are programed to divide up to about 50 times, after that body start to degrade and result is aging. With each cell division telomers at end of chromosomes shorten and when they completely shrink division stops.
Telomerase is an anzyme that increase length of telomers in chromosomes and enable cell division to continue unlimited.