On October 7, local time, the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden announced that the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine will be awarded to scientists Victor · Ambrose and Gary · Rubkun for their discovery of microRNAs (microRNAs) and their role in post-transcriptional gene regulation. The two winners will equally share the prize money of 11 million Sweden kronor (about 8.63 million yuan).
The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was announced in Stockholm, Sweden, on October 7. (Source: Xinhua News Agency)
It is reported that microRNAs are a class of small RNA molecules that play a key role in gene regulation. The discovery of the two scientists introduces a new principle of gene regulation, which is essential for multicellular organisms, revealing that the human genome encodes more than a thousand microRNAs. This discovery opens up a new dimension to understanding the function of living organisms and how they develop.
Academic terms such as genes and RNA may be far away from us, but the experience of the two scientists has attracted the interest of many people. It is understood that the two winners are actually "halfway monks", and neither of them studied the field of genes when they were young.
Victor · Ambrose (Source: CCTV News)
Public information shows that Victor · Ambrose was born in New Hampshire, United States, in the 50s of the 20th century, and was influenced by his father since he was a child, he loved to read and make everything he thought was novel, so when he grew up, he wanted to become a scientist.
In the 60s of the 20th century, the United States Apollo spacecraft successfully landed on the moon, and like many young people of that era, Ambrose also wanted to become an astronaut until 1971, when he entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study astronomy, he found that his physical arithmetic ability was average. The roommate who slept next to him discussed molecular biology and genomics with him late at night for several nights, so he shifted his interest to molecular biology science, and then studied nematodes under the supervision of Nobel laureate David · Baltimore during his Ph.D.
Gary · Rubkun (Source: CCTV News)
On the other hand, his partner Lu Fukun did not study genes in the first place. According to public information, Rubken was born in Berkeley, California, United States in 1952, his father was a civil engineer, and his mother was a housewife, they were optimistic and open-minded, and they all supported Rubken's passion for science, especially space science, and bought him a telescope and a microscope when he was very young.
In 1973, he graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a degree in biophysics, and subsequently got a job in Oregon. He then spent about six months traveling around South America.
One day, Ruffkun stumbled upon a bunch of Scientific United States Journals. Recalling how he felt at the time, Ruffkun said: "Sometimes, I miss science, so I spend the day reading those magazines. And when he read the magazines, he was so full and satisfied – "Wow, that's amazing. I want to go back now. ”
In this way, Ruffkun returned to work as a nuclear medicine technician at the University of California, San Francisco, and then went to Harvard University to study molecular biology.
He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1982, followed by postdoctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1982 to 1985, and in 1985 he became a principal investigator at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, where he is now Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School.
The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was announced in Stockholm, Sweden, on October 7. (Source: Xinhua News Agency)
In 1993, Ambrose and his partner Lufkun published their research on lin-4 (the first miRNA) back-to-back in the journal Cell. Ambrose found the presence of lin-4 in nematodes (Lee et al., 1993), while Rufkun confirmed the regulatory mechanism by which the miRNA inhibits its translation by binding to the target gene (lin-14) messenger RNA (Wightman et al., 1993).
Ambrose's discovery has opened up scientists' understanding of the biological function of non-coding RNAs in cells, that is, RNAs that do not participate in encoding proteins. However, at the time, this research was not taken seriously until 2000, when a second miRNA let-7 was discovered, and people finally began to realize the universal significance of miRNA for gene regulation.
Notably, in 2006, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Andrew · Fall and Craig · Mello for their contributions to the field of RNAi. Some scholars believe that Ambrose, who first discovered miRNA, should leave his name in the history of the Nobel Prize, and 18 years later, in the history of the Nobel Prize, this regret has finally been filled.
Jimu News integrates CCTV news, Xinhua News Agency, and cover news
(Source: Jimu News)
For more exciting information, please download the "Jimu News" client in the application market, please do not reprint without authorization, welcome to provide news clues, and pay the remuneration once adopted. 24-hour hotline: 027-867777777.