US Duo Wins Nobel Prize for MicroRNA Discovery
Nobel Prize for Medicine: US Duo AmbrosWins andNobel RuvkunPrize Win for MicroRNA Discovery
The Facts
On Monday, the Nobel Prize committee at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, awarded US scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun the 2024 Nobel Prize in Medicine for discovering microRNA and its essential role in multicellular organism growth and survival.
Ambros and Ruvkun originally studied genes that regulate genetic development to ensure cell type development. The panel concluded that their study “revealed a new dimension to gene regulation, essential for all complex life forms.”Ambros and Ruvkun originally studied genes that regulate genetic development. The panel concluded that their study "revealed a new dimension to gene regulation, essential for all complex life forms."
The Spin
Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun's remarkable discovery of microRNA earned them this year's Nobel Prize in Medicine. They found a new class of small RNA molecules that play an important function in gene regulation. The two scientists have uncovered a new level of understanding in the development and function of multicellular organisms, including humans.
The recognition of microRNAs with the 2024 Nobel Prize in Medicine was an unexpected yet welcome development for some researchers, given that microRNA therapies remain in their early stages. The Nobel Committee awarded the Medicine Prize in 2006 for the discovery of small interfering RNAs, which control genes through an alternative mechanism, following the identification of microRNAs. Researchers hope to eventually use these master regulators for disease detection and treatment.
