At the end of every chromosome is a protective cap called a telomere, often compared to the plastic tip on a shoelace. Telomeres shorten as cells divide. In 2009, Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider, and Jack Szostak won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering how telomeres and the enzyme telomerase protect chromosomes. Epitalon is a synthetic four-amino-acid peptide (Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly) developed by Russian scientist Vladimir Khavinson. It is based on epithalamin, an extract from the pineal gland, and is used in research exploring cellular processes and telomere biology. #ScienceSpotlight #Epitalon #Telomeres #CellBiology