The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institutet has awarded the prestigious 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Dr. Victor Ambros and Dr. Gary Ruvkun for their transformative discovery of microRNA and its crucial role in post-transcriptional gene regulation.

This year’s laureates have unlocked a fundamental mechanism that governs how genes are regulated within cells, a process essential for the development and function of multicellular organisms, including humans. Their pioneering work revealed that microRNA, a tiny RNA molecule, plays a pivotal role in determining which genetic instructions are activated, ensuring that only the correct set of genes is expressed in different cell types.

The discovery of microRNA has broad implications across biology and medicine. It has deepened our understanding of gene regulation, influencing research in developmental biology, oncology, and many other fields. MicroRNAs are now known to regulate over 1,000 genes in humans, and their dysfunction is linked to various diseases, including cancer, diabetes, and autoimmune conditions.

Key Breakthroughs:

• Dr. Victor Ambros and Dr. Gary Ruvkun’s research focused on the model organism C. elegans, leading to the identification of microRNA and its ability to inhibit protein production by binding to messenger RNA (mRNA).
• Their findings, published in 1993, introduced a new dimension to gene regulation that has since been conserved across evolution.
• Research on microRNA has revealed its profound physiological importance, from cellular development to cancer progression.

"Ambros and Ruvkun’s discovery of microRNA has revolutionized our understanding of gene regulation and provided invaluable insights into cellular function and disease mechanisms," said the Nobel Assembly.

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded since 1901 to honor individuals whose discoveries have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind.