Mon Oct 07 23:11:59 UTC 2024: ## Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Awarded to Ambros and Ruvkun for Discovery of MicroRNA

**Stockholm, Sweden:** American biologists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun have been awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their groundbreaking discovery of microRNA and its vital role in gene regulation.

Ambros, currently at the University of Massachusetts, and Ruvkun, a professor at Harvard Medical School, independently researched microRNAs (miRNAs) in the late 1980s, while both were postdoctoral fellows under H. Robert Horvitz, the 2002 Nobel laureate.

MiRNAs are tiny, non-coding RNA molecules that play a crucial role in controlling protein production. They bind to messenger RNA (mRNA), which carries genetic information, and silence it, ultimately regulating the amount of protein produced. This process, known as post-transcriptional gene regulation, ensures precise control over gene expression.

Ambros and Ruvkun’s initial studies focused on a small roundworm called Caenorhabditis elegans, which served as a model organism for understanding tissue development. Ambros’ research focused on the lin-4 gene, which produced an unusually short RNA molecule without protein-coding instructions. Ruvkun, meanwhile, discovered that the lin-4 gene regulated the lin-14 gene by inhibiting protein production, rather than affecting mRNA production.

Their individual discoveries, published in 1993, revealed the existence of microRNA and its function in gene regulation. Although initially met with skepticism, further research revealed that microRNAs are widespread in the animal kingdom, including humans.

Today, it is known that humans possess over a thousand genes for different microRNAs, and that microRNA-mediated gene regulation is essential in all multicellular organisms. Abnormal regulation of microRNA can contribute to diseases such as cancer, and mutations in microRNA genes have been linked to conditions like hearing loss and skeletal disorders.

While the Nobel Committee acknowledges the potential of microRNA research, they emphasize that further research is required to understand its full implications and develop therapeutic applications.

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