US duo Victor Ambros, Gary Ruvkun win Nobel medicine for microRNA discovery

Scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun have won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of microRNA and its role in gene regulation.

The Nobel Assembly said in a statement on Monday that the United States-based laureates discovered the new class of tiny RNA molecules, which play a crucial role in regulating gene activity.

Different institutions award the prizes in various fields, with the Nobel Peace Prize being the only one awarded in Oslo rather than Stockholm, possibly as a result of the political union that existed between the two Nordic countries when Nobel penned his will.

Past winners of the Nobel Prize in medicine include many famous researchers such as Ivan Pavlov in 1904, most known for his experiments on behaviour using dogs, and Alexander Fleming, who shared the 1945 prize for the discovery of penicillin.

Last year’s medicine prize was awarded to the runaway favourites Katalin Kariko, a Hungarian scientist, and US colleague Drew Weissman, for discoveries that paved the way for COVID-19 vaccines that helped curb the pandemic.

Steeped in tradition, the science, literature and economics prizes are presented to the laureates in a ceremony on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death, followed by a lavish banquet at Stockholm City Hall.

Separate festivities are held for the winner of the peace prize in Oslo on the same day.