Scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun have won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of microRNA and its role in gene regulation. In a statement released on Monday, October 7th, The Nobel Assembly said the United States-based laureates discovered “a completely new principle of gene regulation that turned out to be essential for multicellular organisms, including humans.”
Each year, the medicine prize is the first in the crop of Nobel's to be announced, with the remaining five set to be unveiled over the coming days. The winners for medicine are selected by the Nobel Assembly of Sweden’s Karolinska Institute medical university and receive a prize sum of 11 million Swedish crowns ($1.1m).
What the new winners had to say
Describing what it was like to be thrown into the spotlight, Ruvkun said, "The Nobel's you know, there's a word we use for Major League Baseball, it's called 'The Show's Which means it's not any show, it's THE show." He joked that collaborating with Ambros and receiving previous awards meant they had been "joined at the hip for quite a while." He added that Ambros has been a wonderful guy. On his part, Ambros said he was happy to share the award with "a great friend." Also speaking to newsmen, Ambros described microRNA as a "communication network amongst genes that enables the cells in our bodies to generate all kinds of different complex structures and functions."
What you need to know about the researchers.
Victor Ambros conducted his research at Harvard University and is currently a professor of natural science at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School. Meanwhile, Gary Ruvkun performed his research at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, where he is a professor of genetics. Both scientists embarked on their research in the late 1980s under the mentorship of Robert Horvitz, another Nobel laureate, focusing on the 1 mm-long roundworm C. elegans.
Their initial findings on microRNAs were initially dismissed as species-specific oddities. Their discoveries on how certain microRNAs in the roundworm govern growth of organs and tissue was initially dismissed as specific to the species.
Details of their research
Their groundbreaking work began with the genetic study of the tiny roundworm, which, despite its size, possesses specialized cell types found in larger animals. Ambros's discovery of the first microRNA in 1993 initially faced skepticism, but Ruvkun's subsequent findings confirmed its presence across the animal kingdom. The Nobel medicine committee's vice chair, Olle Kämpe, noted that the initial discovery was met with "deafening silence." However, the field exploded after Ruvkun's findings, leading to the identification of tens of thousands of microRNAs across different organisms. The discovery of microRNAs provides insight into how organisms, regardless of their complexity, can possess similar gene numbers. Joshua Rosenthal, a senior scientist, emphasized that microRNAs are crucial for regulating gene expression in virtually every living cell. The findings have significant implications for understanding disease mechanisms and developing new therapeutic strategies.
Past Winners of the Nobel Prize in Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Medicine has recognized numerous groundbreaking contributions over the years. In 2023, Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman were awarded for their pivotal work on mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. The previous year, Svante Pääbo received the prize for his research on human evolution. In 2021, the award went to David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian for their discoveries related to sensory mechanisms. The 2020 prize was shared by Michael Houghton, Harvey Alter, and Charles Rice for their significant contributions to the discovery of Hepatitis C.
In 2019, Sir Peter Ratcliffe, William Kaelin, and Gregg Semenza were recognized for their work on oxygen sensing. The 2018 laureates, James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo, were awarded for their innovative approaches to cancer treatment using the immune system. Prior to that, in 2017, Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash, and Michael Young were honored for their research on circadian rhythms. Lastly, Yoshinori Ohsumi was awarded in 2016 for his discoveries in autophagy, the process by which cells recycle waste.
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