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About
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Undergraduate
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Research
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Research Labs
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- Addiction and Innovative Methodology (AIM) Lab
- Alcohol Habits in Daily Life Lab
- Biomarker Core Lab
- Behavioral Neuroendocrinology Lab
- Behavioral Neurogenetics Lab
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Biobehavioral Health Studies Lab
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Bio-Qualitative Research Lab (BioQUAL)
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- Decision Neuroscience
- Disparities Related to Individual Variance in Executive Functioning and Stress
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Epidemiology and Genetics across Populations & Societies Lab
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Family and Child Health Project
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- Molecular Genetics Lab
- Neurobiological Investigation of Learning and Addiction
- Prevention Research to Optimize (PRO) Health Lab
- Rural Health Disparities Lab
- Shalev Lab (Stress and Aging)
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Sleep, Health & Society Collaboratory
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- Smoking and Health Behavior Lab
- Mechanics of Emotion, Stress, and Health (MESH) Lab
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Stress and Immunity Lab
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Stress and Nutrition Research Program
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- Stress, Health, and Daily Experiences (SHADE) Lab
- Stress Psychophysiology Lab
- Substance Use Neuroscience
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Water, Health, & Nutrition Lab
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- Youth Experiences and Later Health Lab
- Veturi Lab
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Outreach & Service
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Contact
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Telomere basics
Why measure Telomeres?
Telomeres are the caps at the end of each DNA strand; a bit like caps on the end of shoelaces, to protect the strand from unraveling and sticking together. Technically speaking, telomeres are the TTAGGG repetitive stretches at the end of our chromosomes. With each cell division, telomeres become progressively shorter, limiting the number of times a cell can divide. When the length of telomeres reaches a critically short length, the cells stop dividing and enter a state of cell arrest (i.e., senescence), which is one of the hallmarks of aging. The rate of telomere shortening can be dependent on stress associated with adverse life experiences and can impact one’s health in later years. There is a large degree of natural variation in telomere length depending on the activity of an enzyme called telomerase, which adds length to telomeres. Telomeres are the longest when we are born and with age and stress exposure, gradually shorten when new cells are made until the cell cannot replicate anymore; the cellular equivalent of aging. Studies show that longer telomere’s are associated with healthy aging while shorter telomeres are associated with chronic diseases and early mortality. The Biomarker Core Lab now offers researchers an opportunity to measure telomere length and track the cellular age in their samples.
Biomarker Core Lab
Penn State University
146 Health & Human Development Building
University Park, PA 16802
bcl@psu.edu | 814-865-5559
Hours
Monday - Friday
8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.