Nobelpreis geht an microRNA-Forscher

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Nice bit of explanatory writing by BBC.

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

I prefer RNA-C since it’s reversible.

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.