Nobel Prize in Medicine: Like every year, the Nobel Prize Committee has announced the biologists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun as the Nobel Prize winners in Medicine. Their significant contribution to the world of genetics has earned them this major award. The two professors discovered microRNA and the role it plays in post-transcriptional gene regulation. With their noteworthy discovery, it is now known that microRNA has a hand in deciding how an organism grows. Let’s dive deeper into the ocean of medical knowledge and learn more about the two Nobel Prize winners.
Who are the Nobel Prize in Medicine winners Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun?
Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun’s discovery is truly remarkable for genetics. The two biologists have been used to be postdoctoral fellows in the Rober Horvertz Lab during the late 1980s. American Biologist, Victor Ambros is currently working as a professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He was the first one to discover the existence of the first microRNA. Ambros graduated from MIT and during his fellowship, he studied the development process of C.elegans. It is a nematode which is transparent and 1mm in length.
Gary Ruvkun, a genetics professor at the Harvard Medical School and a molecular biologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is also doing a fellowship under Nobel Prize winner Robert Horvertz. Gary discovered the second miRNA called let-7, he also found out that this miRNA is saved and conserved in humans. He has been teaching the students of Harvard Medical School since 1985 as a professor.
What is the process of getting selected for the Nobel Prize?
Recently, the announcement of the Nobel Prize winners in Medicine has impressed the followers. Now, people are curious about the way these Nobel prize winners are selected. Well, the Nobel Prize committee sent out as many as possible nomination forms to around 3000 individuals. These individuals consist of people who are either previous Nobel Prize winners and people who are big personalities in the academic world including institutes. This usually happens in September, a year prior to the awards. The Nobel Prize Committee selects around 300 potential candidates and does not disclose their names. The committee then prepares a report with the advice of experts in the field and decides the winners.
miRNA’s Significance in the Physiology
The two scientists received the award for discovering miRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation. For this, they studied nematode C. elegans’ two mutated strains including lin-4 and lin-I4 which showed the defects of activation of genetic programs’ timing. They tried to understand their function. lin-4 was the negative regulator of lin-14. This particular relationship between the two tiny RNAs intrigued the scientists. They liked the relationship between the two and wanted to show how can they solve mysteries. Their discovery also revealed that the irregular functioning of miRNA which can cause cancer. Mutation in the gene can also cause congenital hearing loss and eyesight and skeletal disorders. It can also cause DICER1 if the protein required for miRNA is mutated. This disease is rare but can cause cancer in many organs.
Their discovery is revolutionary and can unfold many secrets of the genetic world.
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