Groundbreaking Discovery of microRNA Wins 2024 Nobel Prize in Medicine

Scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun honored for uncovering tiny gene regulators with potential to revolutionize treatments for cancer, heart disease, and viral infections

The Nobel Prize in Medicine for 2024 has been awarded to U.S. scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their discovery of microRNA, a previously unknown class of tiny RNA molecules that regulate gene activity. This finding, which initially garnered little attention, has revealed new insights into gene regulation across all multicellular organisms, from worms to humans.

In the 1980s, Ambros and Ruvkun discovered microRNAs while researching gene interactions in C. elegans, a tiny roundworm. Their work showed that, unlike messenger RNA (mRNA) that carries instructions from DNA to produce proteins, microRNAs function as gene switches, turning other genes on or off. Although initially met with skepticism, later research confirmed that microRNAs exist across the animal kingdom and are essential to normal development and function.

Now known to control over a thousand genes in humans, microRNAs hold promise for medical advancements. They could help combat cancer by acting as tumor suppressors or, conversely, by limiting uncontrolled cell division. MicroRNAs are also being explored as potential antiviral treatments, and researchers hope they can serve as biomarkers for diagnosing specific cancers. While clinical applications are still in development, this discovery has paved the way for new avenues in medicine and deepened our understanding of gene regulation.

Victor Ambros is a professor at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, and Gary Ruvkun is a genetics professor at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. Their pioneering work has opened a new chapter in genetic research with implications for cancer treatment, antiviral therapies, and possibly even human evolution.

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