The team, led by Dr Scott Cohen have worked out the composition of the cancer enzyme telomerase, which is prevalent in 85 percent of all cancers and prevents cancer cells dying as they age.
"It opens the way for more advanced structural studies into telomerades, for example, X-ray crystallography provides a detailed three-dimensional picture of the enzyme," Dr Cohen said to reporters.
"This is an excellent starting point for the rational design for specific drugs to target telomarade," he said.
Though cancer researchers around the world have studied the enzyme telomerase, little has been known about its chemical composition. The team's breakthrough was to discover the enzyme' s make-up is only two proteins - far fewer than previously thought.
The discovery will "speed up" cancer research said the Institute director, Roger Reddel to reporters. "This discovery sharpens the focus and no doubt will speed up the process of delivering successful treatments. It's very exciting."
The existence of telomerase was co-discovered in 1984 by the Australian-born researcher Professor Elizabeth Blackburn, of the University of California.
