Gary Ruvkun, 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

Gary Bruce Ruvkun (born 26 March 1952, Berkeley, California) is an American molecular biologist and Nobel laureate at Massachusetts General Hospital and professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

Ruvkun discovered the mechanism by which lin-4, the first microRNA (miRNA) discovered by Victor Ambros, regulates the translation of target messenger RNAs via imperfect base-pairing to those targets, and discovered the second miRNA, let-7, and that it is conserved across animal phylogeny, including in humans. These miRNA discoveries revealed a new world of RNA regulation at an unprecedented small size scale, and the mechanism of that regulation. Ruvkun also discovered many features of insulin-like signaling in the regulation of aging and metabolism.

He was elected a Member of the American Philosophical Society in 2019. Ruvkun was awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation.

Early life and education

Ruvkun was born into a Jewish family, the son of Samuel and Dora (née Gurevich) Ruvkun.

Ruvkun obtained his undergraduate degree in 1973 at the University of California, Berkeley. His PhD work was done at Harvard University in the laboratory of Frederick M. Ausubel, where he investigated bacterial nitrogen fixation genes. Ruvkun completed post-doctoral studies with Robert Horvitz at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Walter Gilbert of Harvard.

Awards

• 2005 Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Medical Research of Brandeis University (co-recipient (with Craig Mello, Andrew Fire and Victor Ambros)
• 2007 Warren Triennial Prize, Massachusetts General Hospital (co-recipient with Victor Ambros)
• 2008 Gairdner Foundation International Award (co-recipient (with Victor Ambros)
• 2008 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science (co-recipient with Victor Ambros and David Baulcombe)
• 2008 Lasker Foundation Award for Basic Medical Research (co-recipient with Victor Ambros and David Baulcombe)
• 2008 National Academy of Sciences
• 2009 Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize, Columbia University (co-recipient with Victor Ambros)
• 2009 American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• 2009 Massry Prize from the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California (co-recipient with Victor Ambros)
• 2009 Institute of Medicine
• 2011 Dan David Prize
• 2012 Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research with Victor Ambros
• 2014 Wolf Prize for Medicine (co-recipient with Victor Ambros)
• 2015 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences (co-recipient with C. David Allis, Victor Ambros, Alim Louis Benabid, Jennifer A. Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier).
• 2016 March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology (co-recipient with Victor Ambros)[37]
• 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (co-recipient with Victor Ambros)