US scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun won the Nobel Prize in Medicine yesterday for their discovery of microRNA and its role in how genes are regulated.
Understanding the regulation of gene activity has been an important goal for decades, the Nobel jury said.
If gene regulation goes awry, it can lead to serious diseases such as cancer, diabetes or autoimmunity.
"Their groundbreaking discovery revealed a completely new principle of gene regulation that turned out to be essential for multicellular organisms, including humans," it said.
Collaborating but working separately, the pair conducted research on a one-millimeter roundworm, C elegans, to determine why cell mutations occurred and when.
They discovered microRNA, a new class of tiny RNA molecules that play a crucial role in gene regulation, which in turn allows each cell to select only relevant instructions.
Ambros, 70, is a professor at the University of Massachusetts while Ruvkun, 72, teaches at Harvard.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Gary Ruvkun and Victor Ambros.
