2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

Last updated
Nobel prize medal.svg The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun
Victor Ambros, 2024 Nobel Prize Laureate in Medicine.jpg Gary Ruvkun, 2024 Nobel Prize Laureate in Medicine 3 (cropped).jpg
"for the discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation."
Date7 October 2024 (2024-10-07)
Location Stockholm
CountrySweden
Presented by Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet
Reward(s)11 million SEK (2023)
First award1901
Website 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
←  2023  · Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine ·  2025  →

The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded jointly to Victor Ambros (born 1953) and Gary Ruvkun (born 1952) "for the discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation." [1] It was officially announced by the secretary of the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, on 7 October 2024.

Contents

Laureates

Victor Ambros

This section is an excerpt from Victor Ambros.[ edit ]
Victor R. Ambros (born December 1, 1953) is an American developmental biologist who discovered the first known microRNA (miRNA). He is a professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He completed both his undergraduate and doctoral studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Ambros received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2024 for his research on microRNA. [2]

Gary Ruvkun

This section is an excerpt from Gary Ruvkun.[ edit ]

Ruvkun discovered the mechanism by which lin-4 , the first microRNA (miRNA) discovered by Victor Ambros, regulates the translation of target messenger RNAs via imperfect base-pairing to those targets, and discovered the second miRNA, let-7 , and that it is conserved across animal phylogeny, including in humans. These miRNA discoveries revealed a new world of RNA regulation at an unprecedented small size scale, and the mechanism of that regulation. Ruvkun also discovered many features of insulin-like signaling in the regulation of aging and metabolism.

He was elected a Member of the American Philosophical Society in 2019. Ruvkun was awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation. [3]

Reactions

Potential snub

Multiple media outlets, after the official announcement, noted the potential snub of Ambros' wife Rosalind Lee who was cited in the key publications highlighted by the Nobel Committee and was known to have contributed significantly in the development of the research of her husband, adding further to the continuous debate whether women are given the rightful acknowledgements they deserve in the field of science. [4] [5] Victor Ambros expressed, “It would have been terrific if we could have shared” the prize. [6] She would have been the latest female Nobel laureate after Katalin Karikó. [4]

Key publications

The following publications were the fundamental researches that motivated the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet to award the 2024 Prize:

References

  1. ↑ Nobel Prize Outreach. "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2024". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 17 August 2025.
  2. ↑ "Press release: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2024". NobelPrize.org. Archived from the original on October 8, 2024. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
  3. ↑ "Press release: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2024". NobelPrize.org. Archived from the original on October 8, 2024. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
  4. 1 2 Nuño Domínguez (8 October 2024). "Why researcher Rosalind Lee, the wife of the Nobel Prize winner in Medicine, didn't receive the award as well". El País.
  5. ↑ "Nobel Prize snub of Rosalind Lee sparks debate on fairness of the system". The Daily Pioneer. 24 October 2024.
  6. ↑ Bethany Brookshire (4 October 2025). "Nobel Prizes honor great discoveries – but leave much of science unseen". Science News.
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