US scientists win Nobel Prize in medicine for work on microRNA

Duo lauded for discovering new principle of gene regulation for multicellular organisms

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STOCKHOLM - US scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Oct 7 for the discovery of microRNA and its crucial role in how multicellular organisms grow and live.

Their work helped explain how cells specialise and develop into different types, such as muscle and nerve cells, even though all the cells in an individual contain the same set of genes and instructions for growing and staying alive.

The Nobel Assembly, the award-giving body, said in a statement that the laureates discovered a new class of tiny RNA molecules, which play a crucial role in gene regulation.

"Their ground-breaking discovery revealed a completely new principle of gene regulation that turned out to be essential for multicellular organisms, including humans," the assembly said.

Dr Ambros, 70, described microRNA as a "communication network amongst genes that enables the cells in our bodies to generate all kinds of different complex structures and functions".