2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun
"for the discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation."
Date	7 October 2024 (2024-10-07)
Location	Stockholm
Country	Sweden
Presented by	Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet
Reward	11 million SEK (2023)
First award	1901
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.

Laureates

Victor Ambros

This section is an excerpt from Victor Ambros.[ edit ]

Ambros in 2024

Victor Robert Ambros (born December 1, 1953) ^[2] 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. ^[3]

Gary Ruvkun

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

Ruvkun in 2024

Gary Bruce Ruvkun (born March 26, 1952) ^[4] is an American molecular biologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School in Boston. ^[5]

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. ^[6]

Reactions

Potential snub

See also: Matilda effect

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. ^{[7] [8]} Victor Ambros expressed, “It would have been terrific if we could have shared” the prize. ^[9] She would have been the latest female Nobel laureate after Katalin Karikó. ^[7]

Key publications

The following publications were the fundamental researches that motivated the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet to award the 2024 Prize: ^{[ citation needed ]}

• Lee RC, Feinbaum RL, Ambros V.The C. elegans heterochronic gene lin-4 encodes small RNAs with antisense complementarity to lin-14. Cell. 1993;75(5):843-854. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(93)90529-y
• Wightman B, Ha I, Ruvkun G.Posttranscriptional regulation of the heterochronic gene lin-14 by lin-4 mediates temporal pattern formation in C. elegans. Cell. 1993;75(5):855-862. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(93)90530-4
• Pasquinelli AE, Reinhart BJ, Slack F, Martindale MQ, Kurodak MI, Maller B, Hayward DC, Ball EE, Degnan B, Müller P, Spring J, Srinvasan A, Fishman M, Finnerty J, Corbo J, Levine M, Leahy P, Davidson E, Ruvkun G.Conservation of the sequence and temporal expression of let-7 heterochronic regulatory RNA. Nature. 2000;408(6808):86-89. doi:10.1038/35040556

References

1. Nobel Prize Outreach. "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2024". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 17 August 2025.
2. "Who are Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun, winners of 2024 Nobel Prize in Medicine?". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on October 7, 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. "Who are Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun, winners of 2024 Nobel Prize in Medicine?". Hindustan Times. October 7, 2024. Archived from the original on October 7, 2024. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
5. Nair, P. (2011). "Profile of Gary Ruvkun". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 108 (37): 15043–5. Bibcode:2011PNAS..10815043N. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1111960108 . PMC   3174634 . PMID   21844349.
6. "Press release: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2024". NobelPrize.org. Archived from the original on October 8, 2024. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
7. 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.
8. "Nobel Prize snub of Rosalind Lee sparks debate on fairness of the system". The Daily Pioneer. 24 October 2024.
9. Bethany Brookshire (4 October 2025). "Nobel Prizes honor great discoveries – but leave much of science unseen". Science News.

External links

• Official website of the Nobel Foundation