Geron Corporation

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Junli Feng

Bryant Villeponteau

William H Andrews

Walter D Funk

Robert R Adams

Ariel Athena Avilion

Maarten H Linskens

Maria Antonia Marhuenda

Carol Greider

Michael D West

Kenneth S Hirsch

Nucleic acids comprising the RNA component of a mammalian telomerase are useful as pharmaceutical, therapeutic, and diagnostic reagents.

Mammalian telomerase

Purified and recombinant proteins TPC2 and TPC3 and recombinant or synthetic oligonucleotides corresponding to those proteins or fragments thereof can be used to detect regulators of telomere length and telomerase activity in mammalian cells and for a variety of related diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.

Peptides related to TPC2 and TPC3, two proteins that are coexpressed with telomerase activity

This invention is directed to compositions enriched for telomerase and methods of preparing the same.

Mammalian telomerase RNA gene promoter

RNA component of telomerase

Nucleic acids comprising the RNA component of a mouse, rat, Chinese hamster and bovine telomerase are disclosed, as are recombinant expression plasmids comprising said nucleic acids and host cells transformed with said recombinant expression plasmids.

RNA component of mouse, rat, Chinese hamster and bovine telomerase

Methods and reagents for regulating telomere length and telomerase

Assays for the DNA component of human telomerase

Identification of senescence-related genes can be accomplished by comparing mRNA expression between young and senescent cells. Probes complementary to such genes can be used to detect senescent cells and distinguish between young and senescent cells as well as in screens to identify compounds that alter expression levels of senescence-related genes.

Methods and reagents for the identification and regulation of

An improved method for detecting and isolating differentially expressed mRNAs which comprises using first oligonucleotide primers for reverse transcription of mRNAs and both the first oligonucleotide primers and second oligonucleotide primers for amplification of the resultant cDNAs. The improvement of this method comprises providing first and second oligonucleotide primers with a length of at least 21 oligonucleotides. The method further comprises using a two-step PCR amplification, wherein non-stringent conditions are used for the first 1 to 4 cycles, and stringent conditions are used for the next 16 to 22 cycles. This highly reproducible method will permit the preparation of comprehensive catalogs of gene expression for any given cell type.

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San Carlos, CA, United States of America

Junli Feng