Suche
Mein Konto
Nobel Prize for discoverer of microRNA: key to disease and health!
Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun receive the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their discovery of microRNA, once considered unimportant but now fundamental to gene regulation and therapeutic research.
Nobel Prize for discoverer of microRNA: key to disease and health!
Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun have turned the scientific world on its head! The two US scientists received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their groundbreaking discovery of “microRNA”, a form of RNA that influences gene activity. Thirty years ago they made the remarkable discovery that these small RNA molecules not only have a significant impact on embryonic development, but can also play central roles in serious diseases such as cancer, diabetes and autoimmune diseases.
Originally, their findings were dismissed as irrelevant when they conducted research on a small worm model at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital in the 1990s. The revolutionary findings only found their way to humans seven years later and have since then significantly changed our understanding of genetic regulation. Experts such as Nikolaus Rajewsky from the Max Delbrück Center in Berlin and Thomas Thum from the Hannover Medical School confirm the important role of microRNAs and their potential for new therapies against diseases. A real triumph for science and a new hope for numerous patients! Further details about this inspiring story can be found in a detailed report on www.welt.de.