Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for microRNA

Victor Ambros from the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School and Gary Ruvkun from Harvard Medical School have won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. They share the prize for their discovery of microRNAs, a family of molecules produced in the body that can profoundly alter gene expression. In a press conference, Ruvkun remarked on his career, saying that “the surprises are what keep you young in science.” He also said of the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans , in which he helped discover microRNAs, that their potent small RNA system “makes our little worms badass . . . and I was asserting this before the Nobel stinkin’ Prize.” RNA biology is now the subject of a third Nobel Prize–winning discovery in the 21st century. Last year’s award in physiology or medicine went to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their work on messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines, and in