The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm announced that the 2024 Nobel Prize in Medicine has been awarded to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun “for the discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation.”
The Nobel Prize is a prestigious international recognition managed by the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden, and funded by the estate of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor. Those honored with this award are known as Nobel laureates.
About the Research
According to the official press release, this year’s Nobel Prize Committee recognized Ambros and Ruvkun for their breakthrough in understanding gene activity regulation. The information contained in our chromosomes can be likened to a guidebook for every cell, as they all have the same genetic material.
Despite possessing identical genetic information, different types of cells—such as muscle and nerve cells—have unique properties. These differences are due to gene regulation, which allows cells to use only the instructions they require, ensuring that the correct genes are active in each cell type.
Ambros and Ruvkun discovered microRNA, a small RNA molecule that plays a crucial role in gene regulation while investigating how various cell types develop.
Their findings presented a novel concept in gene regulation, essential for the proper functioning of multicellular organisms, including humans. It is now understood that the human genome contains over a thousand microRNAs.
This discovery revealed an unexpected new layer of gene regulation, with microRNAs being fundamental to organismal development and function.
Who is Victor Ambros?
Victor R. Ambros, an American developmental biologist, was born in 1953 in Hanover, New Hampshire. He is credited with discovering the first microRNA (miRNA) and is currently a professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Ambros spent his childhood in Vermont and graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1975. His graduate research at MIT, from 1976 to 1979 under David Baltimore, focused on the poliovirus genome.
He began studying genetic pathways related to developmental timing in C. elegans during his postdoctoral work in H. Robert Horvitz’s lab at MIT. He continued his research on developmental timing during his tenure at Harvard, Dartmouth, and the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
In 1993, Ambros’ lab identified the first microRNA, produced by the lin-4 gene in C. elegans, which shaped his ongoing focus on the role of microRNAs in development.
Who is Gary Ruvkun?
Gary Bruce Ruvkun, born in March 1952 in Berkeley, California, is an American molecular biologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School.
Ruvkun discovered how lin-4, the first microRNA identified by Victor Ambros, regulates messenger RNA translation through imperfect base-pairing with target genes. He also identified the second miRNA, let-7, which is conserved across animal species, including humans.
Ruvkun completed his undergraduate studies in 1973 at the University of California, Berkeley, and earned his PhD in biophysics in 1982 from Harvard University, where he studied bacterial nitrogen fixation genes with Frederick M. Ausubel.
His postdoctoral research took place at MIT under Robert Horvitz and at Harvard with Walter Gilbert. Since 1985, Ruvkun has been a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, following his tenure as a Junior Fellow at Harvard’s Society of Fellows from 1982 to 1985.
His major research areas include the study of microRNA and RNA interference mechanisms, genetic analysis of microbiome interactions, the neuroendocrine regulation of immunity, detoxification, and aging, as well as the investigation of potential life on other planets.
