2024-10-07 18:32:15
The decision for the Nobel Prize in Medicine has been made: two researchers from the USA were honored with the title.
This year, the Nobel Prize for Medicine 2024 goes to the US scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun. They were honored for the discovery of microRNA and its role in gene regulation. This was announced by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.
The two researchers had discovered a fundamental principle for controlling gene activity, it was said. “Their groundbreaking discovery revealed a completely new principle of gene regulation that proved essential for multicellular organisms, including humans,” the Nobel Committee said in its statement. MicroRNA is proving to be fundamentally important for the development and function of organisms.
The information stored in the chromosomes can be compared to an instruction manual for all cells in the body. Every cell contains the same chromosomes and therefore the same set of genes. Different cell types such as muscle and nerve cells still have very different properties. Mechanisms of gene regulation play a role here, as described by Ambros and Ruvkun.
As in the previous year, the most important award for doctors is endowed with 11 million Swedish crowns (almost 970,000 euros). Half of it goes to each of the two researchers.
Victor Ambros (born 1953), biologist and professor of molecular medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, USA, and his colleagues have been researching this area for several decades. In 1993 they were able to gain the first important insights into microRNA.
Gary Ruvkun (born 1953), genetic engineer and professor at Harvard University in the US, has also published groundbreaking findings on regulatory microRNA in recent years.
The prize was awarded last year to Drew Weissman and Katalin Kariko, two researchers whose work accelerated the development of corona vaccines. Nobel Prize week traditionally began with today’s awarding of the Nobel Prize in Medicine.
The winners in the physics and chemistry categories will follow on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Nobel Prize in Literature will be awarded on Thursday. On Friday the focus will be on the Nobel Peace Prize, which, unlike the other categories, will not be awarded in Stockholm but in Oslo. At the end of the Nobel Prize season, the Prize for Economic Sciences will follow next week. This is the only one that does not go back directly to the will of the dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel.