STOCKHOLM — The Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded on Monday to two Americans with Massachusetts ties.
Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun were awarded the prize for their discovery of microRNA, a fundamental principle governing how gene activity is regulated.
The Nobel Assembly said that their discovery is “proving to be fundamentally important for how organisms develop and function.”
Ambros is a professor of natural science at UMass Chan Medical School and Ruvkun is a professor at Harvard.
The two started doing post-doctoral research on roundworms together at MIT in the 1980s.
Last year, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to Hungarian-American Katalin Karikó and American Drew Weissman for discoveries that enabled the creation of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 that were critical in slowing the pandemic.
The pair will share the one million dollars that comes with winning the prize.
Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW