Two Massachusetts scientists have been recognized with the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their role in the discovery of microRNA — key to the understanding of gene regulation and potential treatments of heart disease, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases and more.
Researchers Victor Ambros, a University of Massachusetts Medical School professor of natural science, and Gary Ruvkun, a Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School investigator and professor of genetics, received the Nobel Prize on Monday.
“Gene regulation by microRNA, first revealed by Ambros and Ruvkun, has been at work for hundreds of millions of years,” the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine stated in a release. “This mechanism has enabled the evolution of increasingly complex organisms.”
The committee stated the scientists’ work “revealed an entirely new dimension to gene regulation” that are “proving to be fundamentally important for how organisms develop and function.”
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In a press conference at MGH on Monday, Ruvkun called the study of recombinant DNA starting in the 70s a “revolution” and said as a young student and researcher he “just wanted to be part of that.”
In the late 1980s, Ambros and Ruvkun worked as postdoctoral fellows in the laboratory of Robert Horvitz, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2002. There they studied the 1 mm long roundworm, C. elegans, narrowing in on a mutation and gene function in the animals.
Ambros and Ruvkun continued the research after the fellowship at respectively at their Harvard University lab and Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School lab. The pair compared findings, discovering the existence of microRNA in the worms, and published in 1993 in two articles in the journal Cell.
The discovery was met with “deafening silence from the scientific community,” the Nobel committee wrote, until 2000 when Ruvkun published new findings on microRNA in another gene, demonstrating their presence across the animal kingdom.
In the past two decades, “research into the potential of microRNAs for the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of disease has expanded from the two original papers published by Ruvkun and Ambros in 1993 to 176,000 papers today,” MGH said in a statement.
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The “unexpectedly short” microRNA, Ambros said, help regulate how genes are controlled in cells. The microRNAs “block gene expression by binding to regulatory segments in their target messenger RNAs,” MGH said.
Current research has shown human and most other plant and animal genomes contain “more than 1,000 microRNAs, which control many protein-coding messenger RNAs and may be involved in a broad range of normal- and disease-related activities,” the hospital said.
Researchers are currently conducting clinical trials involving microRNA for medical conditions including heart disease, cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.
Ambros said he was “surprised and delighted” to hear about the Nobel Prize at a press conference in the UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester on Monday and emphasized that studies of laboratory organisms of this kind are “critical and key and fundamental to advancing understanding of biology.”
“I think the unexpectedness of biology is probably the most important principle, perhaps, for people to appreciate,” said Ambros. … “At any given moment, it feels like we know most of what we need to know — that is actually an illusion that we have to consciously disabuse ourselves of and leave ourselves open for the surprises.”
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The 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to two researchers, Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman, who helped develop mRNA vaccines to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nobel prize announcements will continue with the physics prize on Tuesday, chemistry on Wednesday, literature on Thursday, Peace Prize on Friday and the Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences on Oct. 14.
Victor Ambros, left, 2024 Nobel Prize winner in physiology or medicine, and professor of natural science at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, hugs his wife Rosalind Lee following a news conference, Monday at the school in Worcester. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)Nobel Committee chairman Thomas Perlmann, right, announces Americans Victor Ambros, left, and Gary Ruvkun, seen on a screen being awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, during a press conference at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, on Monday. (Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via AP)
Massachusetts families are stuck in the Middle East amid the war in Iran, and Democratic Sen. Ed Markey says the State Department needs to do more to get them home.
The Trump administration is telling Americans to leave the region, and families would love to, but they haven’t been able to get out.
Stacey Schuhwerk of Hingham has been sheltering in place in a Doha hotel since Saturday.
“We hear the missiles outside,” she said. “We can see them.”
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The Hingham mother and her son are among nearly 1,600 Americans trapped in the Middle East with no way to get home.
“Airspace is shut down. There’s no planes,” said Schuhwerk. “There’s no way to leave.”
Flights between Boston and the Middle East are canceled or delayed as travelers express anxiety over the conflict.
At first, U.S. officials told people to shelter in place and register with the State Department — something Schuhwerk did days ago.
“There’s no help there. The last time we called was 20 minutes ago, and they continue to say that ‘We don’t know anything about any plans for government help to get people out,’” she said.
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Embassies and consulates across the region — including the U.S. Embassy in Israel — have now suspended services, saying they simply can’t get Americans out.
“They did not have a plan to conduct this war, and they clearly did not have a plan as to how to evacuate innocent families,” Markey said.
The senator says his office is hearing from Massachusetts families, and he’s pressuring the Trump administration to come up with an evacuation plan fast.
“We are going to apply that pressure on the State Department until every American who wants to leave that region is out,” he said.
Back in Doha, Schuhwerk keeps watching the war outside her window.
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“The talk here is ‘How much defensive ammunition’s left?’ Good question, you know, because the missiles aren’t stopping,” she said. “So how long are we going to be safe here?”
With no clear end to this conflict, she’s worried she could be stuck there for weeks.
Happy Tuesday! While today started off dry, we’re already looking at snow out there across the area. While this event will primarily stay as rain on the Cape and islands, it will be an icy mix of snow, ice and rain for the rest of us.
The rain/snow line will continue to advance from the south to the north as the evening progresses. Before the changeover, there will be a quick coating to 2 inches for most of our area.
The threshold between the snow and rain will feature sleet and freezing rain, leading to that icing.
For the rest of the night, there will primarily be rain with continued pockets of freezing rain, leading to increasing spotty ice accretion. Be extremely careful on roads, especially since switching between rain and freezing rain can wash off any road salt.
The rain and freezing rain will exit by 6 a.m. Wednesday, but temperatures will still be close to freezing during the morning commute, so watch out for some spotty black ice.
The rest of Wednesday will be really nice! Highs will warm up to the mid 50s with the help of ample sun.
Thursday we start off in the mid 20s and top off in the mid 40s. We’ll be partly sunny with another chance for some wintry weather Thursday night. This primarily looks like some rain and freezing rain, rather than the triple threat with snow too. We’ll keep an eye on that for you.
That will continue into Friday morning. The rest of Friday: cloudy with a chance for a spot shower and highs cooler again in the upper 30s. Saturday will be dry, breezy and cloudy but gorgeous near 50 degrees! There’s a chance for some rain showers Saturday night. Don’t forget to set your clocks forward an hour before you to go bed!
Sunday we start the day mild in the 40s and make it all the way into the upper 50s with more sun. Monday and Tuesday both look bright and in the 60s! Stay tuned.
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