American scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun have been jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology for their shared discovery of microRNA and the role it plays in post-transcriptional gene regulation.
The pair’s work to identify the existence and function of microRNA (miRNA) within the body was honoured with the 115th awarding of the medicine prize, which was announced by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden on Monday morning.
The work was originally started by Ambros at his lab at Harvard University, with Ruvkun performing similar research in his own position at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Why is the discovery of microRNA so important?
In elaborating on the pair’s work, Nobel Committee vice chair Professor Olle Kämpe described the discovery of microRNA as “a tiny molecule that has opened a new field in gene regulation.”
Though the pair worked in separate labs, their joint research focus led to them combining their resources to expand knowledge of miRNA and its role.
“The seminal discovery of microRNA has introduced a new and unexpected mechanism of gene regulation,” said Kämpe. “MicroRNAs are important for our understanding of embryological development, normal cell physiology and diseases such as cancer. As an example, tumors often perturb microRNA networks to grow.”
Two more science prizes will be awarded this week, with the physics laureate to be revealed on Tuesday and chemistry prize on Wednesday.
This article was originally published on DW.
