RESEARCHING telomeres and the results his team has achieved gets Prof Roger Reddel of the CMRI excited. And just quietly you should be, too.

The Canberra committee of the CMRI received all his good news at the reception at the residence of the embassy of France with the ambassador’s wife Madame Agnes Espagne-Romatet playing hostess.

We all came away knowing a lot more about those itty bitty end bits protecting the DNA in our chromosomes, the chemical compounds already being used in research to stop them shortening each time the cell divides and the positives to come out of this research particularly in cancer research.

His aside about the cosmetic industry’s need for anti-ageing products to keep giving us all “hope in a bottle” had the professor debunking some of the myths and magic promulgated by their marketing strategies.

What we will see though is money well spent to keep this institute researching with the committee already planning its mammoth picnic in the country, this year at Carwoola, and the smooth operation of a spectacular annual event that raised $90,000 in 2013 for the CMRI.