2 scientists snag Nobel in medicine for discovering 'microRNAs'

Two scientists have won the 2024 Nobel prize in physiology or medicine for their discovery of a class of tiny molecules called microRNAs, which play a crucial role in switching genes on and off.

Victor Ambros, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and Gary Ruvkun, a molecular biologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, will share the 11 million Swedish krona prize, equivalent to $1.06 million.

MicroRNAs fall under a broader umbrella of molecules called RNAs, which resemble DNA but contain only one "strand" of genetic material, rather than two twisted together. Ambros and Ruvkun first discovered microRNA and its potential role in gene regulation in 1993 while studying the development of the teensy roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans, a creature commonly studied by biologists.

Since then, the two collaborators and other scientists have shown that microRNAs are a key feature of the genomes of all multicellular organisms, including humans.

Related: Scientists just discovered a new way cells control their genes — it's called 'backtracking'

Thanks to their discovery, "researchers will have a much better understanding of how cells work," Olle Kämpe, the vice chair of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine, said at a press conference Monday (Oct. 7).

Currently, there are no medical applications for this work, but there may well be in the future, Kämpe said.