MicroRNA Pioneers Win 2024 Nobel Prize in Medicine

U.S. scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Medicine for discovering microRNA's vital role in gene regulation in multicellular organisms. Their research helped explain cellular specialization across different cell types, despite identical genetic material. The prize includes a sum of 11 million Swedish crowns.

U.S. scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun have clinched the 2024 Nobel Prize in Medicine, celebrated for their groundbreaking discovery of microRNA. This new class of tiny RNA molecules has been recognized as playing a pivotal role in gene regulation, fundamentally altering our understanding of cellular growth and specialization in multicellular organisms, including humans.

The Nobel Assembly acknowledged that their findings unveiled a novel principle of gene regulation. This breakthrough elucidates how various cell types, such as muscle and nerve cells, differentiate even though they share identical genetic information. Such discoveries underscore the significance of Ambros and Ruvkun's work in the realm of biology and medicine.

Announced by Thomas Perlmann, the Nobel committee's secretary, the award marks the first of the 2024 Nobel Prizes in the esteemed series. The laureates, associated with the University of Massachusetts Medical School and Harvard Medical School, will receive a prize of 11 million Swedish crowns. The Nobel series will continue with the remaining categories to be announced in the coming days.

(With inputs from agencies.)