Stanford University School of Medicine researchers and their colleagues have identified two new proteins that make up the telomerase complex–the protein conglomerate that maintains cells’ genetic material–providing potential new targets for cancer treatments.

Studying telomerase has been difficult because it’s available only in small quantities and no technology was sensitive enough to detect it at minute levels.

To get around the quantity problem, the researchers chopped it into tiny protein pieces, then sent them through a device that compared the protein sequence to a genetic database, matching the snippet to a particular gene. This allowed the researchers to find the protein made by the matched gene.

Stanford University Medical Center News Release