Gary Ruvkun with daughter Victoria Ruvkun (left), dog Barnaby, and wife Natasha Staller the morning of the announcement at their home in Newton. Image: Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard University
Gary Ruvkun, professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School and an investigator at Massachusetts General Hospital, has received the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of microRNAs, a class of tiny RNA molecules that regulate the activities of target genes in plants and animals, including humans.
Ruvkun shares the prize with his collaborator Victor Ambros, of the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School. Ruvkun and Ambros discovered the first microRNAs in animals and demonstrated how microRNAs can turn off genes whose activities are crucial for development.
As potent regulators of gene activity and of the expression of proteins made by these genes, microRNAs have profound implications for disease and health. Ruvkun’s and Ambros’ discoveries have sparked a revolution in RNA medicine.
The scientists’ work revealed that microRNAs are pivotal regulators of normal development and physiology of animals and plants as well as key players in an array of human diseases, including coronary heart disease, neurodegenerative conditions, and many forms of cancer.
“Ruvkun’s and Ambros’ research elegantly combines evolutionary biology and genetics and reveals a completely novel dimension of gene regulation. This curiosity-driven research is a powerful example of how fundamental discovery can provide insights that illuminate causes of disease and consequently can benefit humanity,” said Harvard Medical School Dean George Q. Daley.
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Ruvkun’s and Ambros’ discoveries ignited a wave of RNA exploration across the tree of life and led to the identification of the biochemical machinery by which RNAs of different classes are generated and regulate their target genes in many genetic pathways.
“Nobody who knows Gary or his work could be surprised by this recognition for his research on microRNA. A brilliant investigator, his curiosity has led him to one remarkable insight into fundamental biology after another,” said Harvard University President Alan M. Garber. “The implications of those discoveries aren't always obvious at the outset. With promising medical applications of microRNA research on the horizon, we are reminded — again — that basic research can lead to dramatic progress in addressing human diseases.”
“Gary and Victor are outstanding scientists who fundamentally expanded our understanding of how genes are regulated. Their being honored with the Nobel Prize is richly deserved,” said Cliff Tabin, head of the Department of Genetics at HMS.
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