BBS Faculty Member, Gary Ruvkun, Receives Nobel Prize

BBS Faculty member Gary Ruvkun Receives Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for Discovery of microRNA

Ruvkun shares award with Victor Ambros for elucidating a fundamental principle of gene activity regulation 

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.

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VIDEO: Newly minted Nobel laureate Gary Ruvkun shares tales of his inauspicious start, the power of worms, and the sea changes that inspire him to do research.