The 2024 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine was announced on Monday (October 7). It was jointly awarded to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun. Why were they awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in medicine? How significant is their discovery? Take a look at the essential concepts, terms, quotes, or phenomena every day and brush up your knowledge. Here’s your knowledge nugget for today.

 

Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun have been jointly awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for the discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation.”

 

(1) MicroRNAs are molecules that help cells control their protein production. They work by binding with another type of molecule called messenger RNA (mRNA), which contains the instructions that direct cells to synthesise appropriate proteins.

(2) The chromosomes in the cell contain the same set of genes with the same set of instructions. Yet, different cell types (muscles and nerve cells), have very distinctive characteristics. The difference in their characteristics is explained through gene regulation, which allows each cell to select only the relevant instructions.

(3) Understand through example: Think of chromosomes, which carry genetic information in the form of DNA, as a large toolbox. Every cell in the body has the same toolbox, containing identical tools (or genes). However, different cells need to use different tools depending on their job. While a nerve cell might grab a tool that helps send signals, a muscle cell might choose a different tool to enable movement.

The key to these differences is gene regulation, a process that helps each cell pick the right tools for its specific tasks. In other words, only the appropriate set of genes is activated in each cell type. This curiosity about the functioning of gene regulation led Ambros and Ruvkun to the discovery of microRNA.

(4) Significance of gene regulation: Faults in gene regulation can result in serious diseases like cancer, diabetes, or autoimmune conditions. Understanding gene regulation holds the key to understanding and potentially treating many of these conditions.

(5) The discovery was made by scientists while studying a tiny roundworm called Caenorhabditis Elegans, which possessed some cell types also found in more complex animals. They studied two mutant strains of worms, lin-4, and lin-14, that displayed defects in the timing of activation of genetic programs during development. This led to the discovery of microRNA and the understanding of gene regulation.

About the Scientists:

Ambros, 70, is the Silverman Professor of Natural Science at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He has a PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he also did postdoctoral research from 1979-1985.

Ruvkun, 72, is Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School. He has a PhD from Harvard University. He too was a postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from 1982-1985.

(1) In 2023, the Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for enabling the development of mRNA vaccines for COVID-19 which changed the understanding of how mRNA interacts with our immune system.

(2) In 2022, it was awarded to Svante Paabo “for his discoveries concerning the genomes of extinct hominins and human evolution.” Hominins refer to the now-extinct species of apes that are believed to be related to modern humans, as well as modern humans themselves.

(3) In 2021, it was awarded jointly to David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian “for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch.” They discovered the molecular sensors in the human body that are sensitive to heat, and mechanical pressure, and make us “feel” hot or cold, or the touch of a sharp object on our skin.

(4) In 2020, it was awarded jointly to Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton, and Charles M. Rice “for the discovery of the Hepatitis C virus.” Prior to their work, the discovery of Hepatitis A and B viruses had been critical steps forward, but the majority of blood-borne hepatitis cases remained unexplained. The discovery of the Hepatitis C virus revealed the cause of the remaining cases of chronic hepatitis and made possible blood tests and new medicines that have saved millions of lives.

(5) Har Gobind Khorana, an Indian American biochemist, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine along with Marshall W. Nirenberg and Robert W. Holley in 1968. He was awarded the prestigious prize for his discovery that the order of nucleotides in DNA determines which amino acids are built. Nucleotides are subunits of DNA or RNA and consist of bases made of nitrogen.

 

(Source: Nobel Prize for Medicine out (IE), MicroRNA (IE), gene regulation (IE), Nobel Prize)

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