Jan Karlseder was born in Austria, where he received his PhD from the University of Vienna, focusing on the interaction of transcription factors during S phase entry. He then trained as postdoctoral associate at the Rockefeller University in New York City, where he worked on defining the molecular basis for telomere protection. He was recruited as Assistant Professor to the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, promoted to Associate Professor in 2007 and to Full Professor in 2011. Currently he is the Shiley Chair Professor and Director of the Glenn Center for Research on Aging at Salk, where the Karlseder laboratory focuses on understanding the regulation of proliferative boundaries by telomeres.