American scientists Ambros and Ruvkun win the Nobel Prize in medicine

STOCKHOLM: 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 awarding body said on Monday.

The Nobel assembly said the laureates discovered the new class of tiny RNA molecules, which play a critical role in gene regulation.

“Their ground-breaking discovery revealed an entirely new principle of gene regulation that has been shown to be essential for multicellular organisms, including humans,” the assembly said.

Medicine winners are chosen by the Nobel Assembly of Sweden’s Karolinska Institute Medical University and receive a cash prize of 11 million Swedish kroner ($1.1 million).

As every year, the medicine prize is the first in a crop of Nobels, arguably the most prestigious prizes in science, literature and humanitarian endeavour, with the remaining five to be revealed in the coming days.

Created in the will of Swedish inventor and dynamite businessman Alfred Nobel, the prizes have been awarded for discoveries in science, literature and peace since 1901, with economics being a later addition.

Different institutions award the prizes in different fields, with the Peace 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 wrote his will.

Previous winners of the Nobel Prize in Medicine include many famous researchers, such as Ivan Pavlov in 1904, best known for his behavioral experiments using dogs, and Alexander Fleming, who shared the 1945 prize for the discovery of penicillin.

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

Steeped in tradition, the science, literature and economics prizes are awarded to the laureates at a ceremony on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death, followed by a lavish banquet at Stockholm’s town hall. Separate celebrations attend the peace prize winner in Oslo on the same day.