MicroRNA is the Nobel-winning master regulator of the genome – researchers are learning to treat disease by harnessing how it controls genes

RNA is more than just a transitional state between DNA and protein. Christoph Burgstedt/Science Photo Library via Getty Images

When Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun discovered a new molecule they called microRNA in the 1980s, it was a fascinating diversion from what for decades had been called the central dogma of molecular biology.

Recognized with the 2024 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, Ambros and Ruvkun had identified a new kind of genetic material that transformed how researchers understood gene regulation.