STOCKHOLM – Two scientists have won Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday for his or her discovery of microRNA, tiny pieces of genetic material that function on-and-off switches in cells and help control what the cells do and after they do it.
If scientists higher understand how they work and how one can manipulate them, it could in the future result in effective treatments for diseases like cancer.
The work is by Americans Victor Ambros and Berkeley natives Gary Ruvkun “proves to be of fundamental importance for the development and function of organisms,” said a panel that awarded the prize in Stockholm.
Ambros and Ruvkun were initially considering genes that control the timing of varied genetic developments, ensuring that cell types develop at the correct time.
Their discovery ultimately revealed “a new dimension of gene regulation that is essential for all complex life forms,” the panel said.
What is the Nobel Prize for?
RNA is best known for passing instructions for making proteins from DNA within the cell nucleus to tiny cell factories that truly construct the proteins. MicroRNA doesn't produce proteins, but it surely helps control what cells do, including turning on and off critical genes that make proteins.
Last 12 months's Nobel Prize in Medicine went to scientists who discovered how one can manipulate one in every of all these RNA, called messenger RNA or mRNA, which is now used to make vaccines against COVID-19.
Ambros and Ruvkun's revolutionary discovery was first made on worms; They wanted to search out out why some sorts of cells didn’t evolve in two mutant worm strains commonly utilized in science as a research model.
“Their groundbreaking discovery revealed an entirely new principle of gene regulation that proved essential for multicellular organisms, including humans,” says the citation, explaining the importance of their work.
This mechanism has been at work for a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands of years and has enabled the event of complex organisms, it said.
Ambros, currently a professor of natural sciences on the University of Massachusetts Medical School, conducted the research at Harvard University. Ruvkun's research was conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, where he’s a professor of genetics.
Why is microRNA vital?
Fletcher said there are two principal areas where microRNA might be helpful: in developing drugs to treat diseases and as possible indicators of disease by tracking microRNA levels within the body.
“If we take the example of cancer, we have a particular gene that is working overtime, it could be mutated and working at full speed,” Fletcher said. She said scientists may in the future find a way to make use of microRNA to stop such effects.
Eric Miska, a geneticist on the University of Cambridge, said Ambros and Ruvkun's discovery was an entire surprise and upended what scientists had long understood about how cells work.
Their discovery of microRNA shocked many scientists, Miska said, explaining that such small pieces of genetic material had never been seen before. It later emerged that the tiny RNA fragments – the human genome has no less than 800 – play a vital role in the event of our bodies.
Miska said that work is currently underway on the role of microRNA in infectious diseases comparable to hepatitis and that it may be helpful in treating neurological diseases.
Fletcher said essentially the most advanced studies up to now are examining how microRNA approaches could help treat skin cancer, but no drugs have been approved yet. She predicted this might occur in the approaching years, adding that almost all treatments currently goal cellular proteins.
“If we can intervene at the microRNA level, it opens up a whole new opportunity for us to develop drugs,” she said.
How did Gary Ruvkun and Victor Ambros react?
The call from the Nobel Prize panel is usually a surprise, but there are specific signs that recipients and their families notice.
“Well, when a phone rings at 4:30 in the morning. … That never happens here,” Ruvkun said.
“Natasha actually responded,” Ruvkun added, referring to his wife. “And she says, 'He has a Swedish accent.'”
It took just a little longer to wake Ambros.
“Someone called my son, who called my wife because my phone was downstairs,” he said.
Ruvkun immediately knew the impact the award would have on his life.
“Well, I kept repeating it in my head, this changes everything because the Nobel Prize is just mythical when it comes to how it changes the lives of the people chosen,” Ruvkun said. “The Nobel Prize is a recognition that generates about 100 times as much press and cheers as any other award. So it's not part of a continuum. It’s a quantum leap.”
Accepting his award in December might be the third time he has attended a Nobel ceremony in Stockholm, having watched his mentor Robert Horvitz in 2002 and his 2009 winning pal Jack Szostak.
“A journey is coming. It will be the third, possibly the best,” Ruvkun said.
Ambros said he didn’t expect the award because he believed the Nobel Committee had already highlighted RNA within the 2006 prize, which went to his friends Andrew Fire and Craig Mello.
“It represents a recognition of how wonderful and unexpected discoveries arise from a curiosity in basic research funded by taxpayer dollars.” “It's an extremely important message, probably the most important message, that this investment is really paying off,” he said.
Last 12 months, The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to Hungarian-American Katalin Karikó and American Drew Weissman for discoveries that enabled the event of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19, which were crucial to slowing the pandemic.
The price is endowed with a money prize of 11 million Swedish crowns ($1 million) from a bequest from the prize's initiator, the Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel.
The Nobel announcements proceed with the Physics Prize on Tuesday, the Chemistry Prize on Wednesday and the Literature Prize on Thursday. The Nobel Peace Prize might be announced on Friday and the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences on October 14th.
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This story has been updated to make clear that microRNA helps regulate gene activity slightly than containing instructions for making proteins.
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Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands, Cheng reported from London. Associated Press journalists Steven Senne and Rodrique Ngowi in Newton, Massachusetts, and Adithi Ramakrishnan in New York.
Originally published:
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