Context:
The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their groundbreaking discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation.
More on the News
- The Nobel Committee emphasized that the discovery of microRNA has been instrumental in unveiling a fundamental principle governing how gene activity is regulated.
- This mechanism has been at work for hundreds of millions of years, enabling the evolution of increasingly complex organisms.
Ambros and Ruvkun’s study of MicroRNA
Discovering MicroRNA’s Role: Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun’s research focused on how tiny RNA molecules regulate gene expression.
- Their pioneering work revealed that these molecules are essential for the proper functioning of multicellular organisms, including humans.
Implications for Health and Disease: Their findings indicate that disruptions in microRNA regulation can lead to serious health conditions such as cancer, diabetes, and autoimmune diseases. The identification of over 1,000 microRNAs in the human genome underscores their critical role in development and cellular function.
A New Dimension in Gene Regulation: The Nobel Committee noted that Ambros and Ruvkun’s discovery introduced an entirely new dimension to gene regulation. This revolutionary insight has opened avenues for future research into understanding complex life forms and their evolutionary processes.
About the Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prize was created in the will of Swedish dynamite inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel.
The prizes have been awarded for breakthroughs in the fields of physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, peace, since 1901, while economics is a later addition.
Originally, only 5 Nobel Prizes were established in 1901. The Prize in Economics (officially called as Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel) was established much later in 1968 by Sweden’s Central Bank called Sveriges Riksbank.
Since 1901, the Nobel Prizes and the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences were awarded 623 times to 1004 recipients.
- With some receiving the Nobel Prize more than once, this makes a total of 969 individuals and 27 organisations.
The 2024 prize carries a monetary award of 11 million Swedish crowns (approximately $1.1 million), recognizing the transformative impact of Ambros and Ruvkun’s work on our understanding of genetics and its implications for human health.