北京时间10月7日下午5点30分，瑞典皇家科学院宣布将2024年诺贝尔生理学或医学奖授予：Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun。
2024年诺贝尔生理学或医学奖授予“microRNA的发现及其在转录后基因调控中的作用”（for the discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation）。
This year’s Nobel Prize honors two scientists for their discovery of a fundamental principle governing how gene activity is regulated.
The information stored within our chromosomes can be likened to an instruction manual for all cells in our body. Every cell contains the same chromosomes, so every cell contains exactly the same set of genes and exactly the same set of instructions. Yet, different cell types, such as muscle and nerve cells, have very distinct characteristics. How do these differences arise? The answer lies in gene regulation, which allows each cell to select only the relevant instructions. This ensures that only the correct set of genes is active in each cell type.
Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun were interested in how different cell types develop. They discovered microRNA, a new class of tiny RNA molecules that play a crucial role in gene regulation. Their groundbreaking discovery revealed a completely new principle of gene regulation that turned out to be essential for multicellular organisms, including humans. It is now known that the human genome codes for over one thousand microRNAs. Their surprising discovery revealed an entirely new dimension to gene regulation. MicroRNAs are proving to be fundamentally important for how organisms develop and function.
Victor Ambros, 1953年出生于美国新罕布什尔州汉诺威。1979年，他在马萨诸塞州剑桥市的麻省理工学院获得博士学位，并于1979年至1985年在那里进行了博士后研究。1985年，他成为马萨诸塞州剑桥市哈佛大学的首席研究员。1992年至2007年，他是达特茅斯医学院的教授，现在是马萨诸塞州伍斯特市马萨诸塞大学医学院的西尔弗曼自然科学教授。
Gary Ruvkun, 1952年出生于美国加利福尼亚州伯克利。他于1982年获得哈佛大学博士学位。1982年至1985年，他是马萨诸塞州剑桥市麻省理工学院（MIT）的博士后。1985年，他成为马萨诸塞州总医院和哈佛医学院的首席研究员，现任遗传学教授。
