back in the late 90s, news about how telomerase is the answer for immortality exploded on the net and science magazines. so much that installation artists and painters addressed issues of immortality specifically based on this enzyme. basically, cell life is directly related to the life of telomeres and the presence of telomerase keeps telomeres from dying. Geron Corp. holds a patent on telomerase, even though they were not the first to discover its affect on cell aging. because of that, a research project to grow human arteries may not come to fruition. in this picture, the yellow dots are the telomeres at the ends of chromosomes.