Victor Ambros (UMass) and Gary Ruvkun (Harvard) Win 2024 Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of microRNA

Ambros and Ruvkun's discovery of microRNA transforms understanding of gene expression and disease

The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their pioneering discovery of microRNA, a tiny RNA molecule that plays a crucial role in post-transcriptional gene regulation. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institutet honored the scientists for uncovering a previously unknown dimension of gene regulation, vital for the development and function of multicellular organisms.

As per a press release issued by Nobel Assembly, Ambros and Ruvkun's research on the roundworm C. elegans laid the foundation for this breakthrough. By investigating mutant strains of the worm, they discovered that microRNAs regulate gene activity by binding to messenger RNA (mRNA) and inhibiting protein production. This discovery has reshaped our understanding of how cells control gene expression and has profound implications for understanding diseases such as cancer and diabetes.

Victor Ambros was born in Hanover, New Hampshire, in 1953. He earned his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1979, followed by postdoctoral research at MIT until 1985. He later became a professor at Dartmouth Medical School before joining the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where he is now the Silverman Professor of Natural Science.

Gary Ruvkun, born in Berkeley, California, in 1952, completed his PhD at Harvard University in 1982. He conducted postdoctoral research at MIT before becoming a Principal Investigator at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Ruvkun is currently a Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School.

Their discovery of microRNA has revolutionized the field of molecular biology, providing crucial insights into how organisms develop and how gene regulation impacts diseases.