Nobel prize for medicine goes to mRNA work behind covid-19 vaccines
New ScientistAPR 20 2023
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."
Thomas Perlmann, the secretary of the Nobel Committee, stated that Victor Ruvkun conducted his award-winning research at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Gary Ruvkun carried out his research while at Harvard and currently teaches natural science at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School.Ruvkun conducted his research at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, where he currently teaches genetics. Ambros undertook his research at Harvard and is also now a professor at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School.
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.