Nobel Prize goes to microRNA researchers

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c79nrgp97x9o

11 Comments

  1. I’m sure this is a huge progression towards specific mRNA treatments of cancers. Will be watching this one closely

  2. Slight_Western1075 on

    Bret Weinstein: “They stole it from us. Sneaky little scientists. Wicked, tricksy, false!”

    /s

  3. Exactly how small are these RNA researchers? Could they fit in a standard-sized backpack?

  4. thE-petrichoroN on

    Genomics is modern day cheat code to literally cure even seemingly impossible diseases so this one goes hard and is on time

  5. Lonely-Ordinary-8922 on

    Graduate student RNA researcher here.

    *more detailed tldr*:

    The discovery of microRNAs (miRNA) as provided new drug targets inside of cells for diseases ranging from cancer, cardiovascular disease, and rare genetic diseases. That expands our ability to rationally design new drugs for these conditions because it supplies alternative approaches that we didn’t know exist.

    It also allows us to mimic their behavior in cells by making them synthetically which has potential as another therapeutic approach, most famously for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).

    They are also used as POWERFUL research tools that let us control gene expression for experiments which have impacted basically every subfield of biology.

    It’s also contributed to fundamental biology by breaking the central dogma a bit, which may in future help us better understand how cells work, how to control them, and how life evolved.