Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine awarded for discovery of microRNA
Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine awarded for discovery of microRNA American scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun won the 2024 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine Monday for the discovery of microRNAs, a class of tiny molecules that have been connected to heart disease, a wide variety of cancers and viral diseases. Mutations in microRNAs, just like those in genes, can lead to diseases, and fixing or replacing mutant microRNAs may prove crucial to developing treatments. Ambros and Ruvkun figured out that these small molecules have the power to reduce or block production of proteins, responsible for virtually every human action from breathing to thinking. Not to be confused with messenger RNA — which acts as a “middleman” in the process of translating genetic material into proteins — microRNAs add a crucial, previously unrecognized layer to the process. MicroRNAs can bind on to the messenger RNA and are able to help cells regulate the kinds and amounts of proteins that ar...