STOCKHOLM – Two researchers working in Massachusetts have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine.
MicroRNA
Americans Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun were honored Monday for their discovery of microRNA, a fundamental principle governing the regulation of gene activity.
The Nobel Assembly said their discovery “proves to be of fundamental importance for the development and functioning of organisms.”
Steffen Trumpf/alliance photo via Getty Images
Victor Ambroise
Ambrose performed the research that led to his award at Harvard University.
He is currently a professor of natural sciences at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester. Ambrose was born in Hanover, New Hampshire. He received his doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1979.
Gary Ruvkun
Ruvkin’s research was done at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, where he is a professor of genetics, said Thomas Perlmann, secretary general of the Nobel committee.
Ruvkin was born in Berkeley, California. He received his doctorate from Harvard in 1982.
Nobel Prize
Last year, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Hungarian-American Katalin Karikó and American Drew Weissman for their discoveries that led to the creation of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19, essential to slowing the pandemic.
The prize is endowed with a sum of one million dollars from a bequest left by the creator of the prize, the Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel.
The announcement kicked off this year’s Nobel Prize season.
The Nobel announcements continue with the physics prize on Tuesday, chemistry on Wednesday and literature on Thursday. The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on Friday and the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences on October 14.
The winners are invited to receive their prizes during the ceremonies on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death.
Associated Press writers Daniel Niemann and Mike Corder contributed to this report.
