Nobel Medicine Prize 2024: V Ambros & Gary R win for microRNA discovery

The Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, has chosen Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The American duo has been honoured for discovering microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation. Both will share the 11 million Kroner prize money equally and will be presented the award in a ceremony in Stockholm on 10 December, which is the death anniversary of Alfred Nobel.

Work of Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun

Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun discovered the fundamental principle governing the regulation of gene activity in human beings. 

Genes are segments of DNA(Deoxyribonucleic acid) that contain genetic information for an organism's development and function. They are passed from parents to their children in all living beings.

Genes are located at a fixed position on the chromosomes and are found in the cell's nucleus.

A gene contains instructions for making a protein that determines a person's characteristics and cell functions. Different cells of the human body have different characteristics. 

The cells of an organism, including humans, contain the same chromosomes, the same set of genes and the same set of instructions. Despite this, why do the different cells of the organism display different characteristics?

Scientists were interested in knowing how different body cells choose the relevant instructions to make specific proteins. This is called gene regulation.

Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun discovered a new class of tiny RNA molecules called microRNA.This molecule plays a crucial role in gene regulation.

Through a process called transcription, genetic information flows from DNA to messenger RNA (mRNA) and then on to the cellular machinery for protein production. There, the mRNAs containing specific instructions are translated, and proteins are made according to the genetic instructions stored in DNA.

Hence the different cells of the human body have different characteristics. 

About mRNA

mRNA or messenger RiboNucleic Acid is a single-stranded molecule that carries the instructions to make proteins. 

It plays a fundamental role in making human bodies function and is found in all living cells.

Indian/Indian origin Scientists to Win Medicine Nobel Prize

• Indian-born American citizen Har Govind Khurana was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or  Medicine in 1968 along with Robert W. Holley and Marshall W. Nirenberg. 
• He was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work in decoding the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis.

About Nobel Prize in Physiology or  Medicine 

• The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was instituted by the Nobel Foundation in 1900, and the first prize was given in 1901. 
• Emil Adolf von Behring of Germany was the first to be honoured with the prize in 1901.
• First woman to be awarded the prize was Gerty Theresa Cori of the United States in 1947.
• The 2023 Prize winners were the American duo of Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman.
• No person has won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine twice.

For details and the story of the Nobel prize, read more.

Nobel Foundation increases the amount for Nobel Prize from 2024