US scientists awarded 2024 Nobel Prize in Medicine for microRNA discovery

Stockholm: The Nobel Assembly at Sweden's Karolinska Institutet on Monday awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly to American scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for the discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation.

Ambros and Ruvkun discovered a fundamental principle governing how gene activity is regulated.

They discovered microRNA -- a new class of tiny RNA molecules that play a crucial role in gene regulation. Their groundbreaking findings unravelled a completely new principle of gene regulation that turned out to be essential for multicellular organisms, including humans.

Their findings showed that the human genome codes for over one thousand microRNAs. These are also proving to be fundamentally important for how organisms develop and function.

"Whereas proteins in the nucleus regulate RNA transcription and splicing, microRNAs control the translation and degradation of mRNA in the cytoplasm," the academy said. "This unexpected layer of post-transcriptional gene regulation has critical importance throughout animal development and in adult cell types and is essential for complex multicellular life," it added.

The scientists duo will receive a joint prize sum of 11 million Swedish crowns ($1.1 million).

Born in 1953 in New Hampshire, Ambros received his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, in 1979 where he also did postdoctoral research from 1979-1985. He is currently Silverman Professor of Natural Science at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA. Ruvkun was born in California in 1952. He received his PhD from Harvard University in 1982. He is now the Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School.

The prestigious award is given annually by the Nobel Assembly consisting of 50 professors at Karolinska Institutet, recognising personnel who have made significant contributions to the field of medicine for the benefit of humankind.