North American biologists Gary Ruvkun and Victor Ambros received, this Monday (7), the Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology. The duo was awarded the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institutet Medical University in Sweden for their discovery of microRNA and its crucial role in the way multicellular organisms grow and live.
Ambros is a professor of natural sciences at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and conducted the research at Harvard University, where Ruvkun teaches genetics. The project showed how genes give rise to different cells within the human body, in a process known as gene regulation.
MicroRNA is a family of molecules that help cells control the type of proteins they produce and, therefore, define what type of structure each cell will join in the organism of living beings. Initially, the tests conducted by the project investigated the role of microRNA in roundworms, but, over the years, the duo managed to show that, in fact, this mechanism has been fundamental to the entire animal kingdom on Earth for hundreds of millions of years.
“The information stored in our chromosomes can be compared to an instruction manual for every cell in our body. Every cell contains the same chromosomes, so every cell contains exactly the same set of genes and exactly the same set of instructions,” the committee said in a statement, detailing the pair’s work.
“The answer lies in genetic regulation, which allows each cell to select only the relevant instructions. This ensures that only the correct set of genes are active in each cell type.”
If gene regulation goes wrong, it can lead to cancer and other conditions found in humans and other animals, such as hearing loss and skeletal disorders.
Nobel recognition for Ambros and Ruvkun had been expected by many for years, said David Pendlebury, head of research analysis at Clarivate’s Scientific Information Institute.
“They (microRNAs) offer potential diagnostic and therapeutic opportunities in the treatment of cancer and other diseases. Clinical trials are underway to utilize microRNA profiling for patient prognosis and clinical response,” Pendlebury told CNN .
Last year, the award was given to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their work on mRNA vaccines, a crucial tool for containing the spread of Covid-19.
The prize is 11 million Swedish crowns (about R$5.3 million).
*With information from CNN Internacional and Reuters
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This content was originally published in Discover the project that discovered microRNA and won the Nobel Prize in Medicine on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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