It was the early 1990s. The pair, who had bonded over their fascination with an obscure species of roundworm, were exchanging data points at 11 pm - one of the rare moments Ambros could steal away from tending to his newborn baby.
“It just fit together like puzzle pieces,” Ruvkun said in an interview from his home in Boston suburb. “It was a eureka moment.”
What they had uncovered was microRNA: tiny genetic molecules that act as key regulators of development in animals and plants and hold the promise of breakthroughs in treating a wide range of diseases in the years ahead.
Although these molecules are only 22 “letters” long - compared to the thousands of lines of code in regular protein-coding genes - their small size belies their critical role as molecular gatekeepers.
This story is from the October 09, 2024 edition of The Citizen.
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This story is from the October 09, 2024 edition of The Citizen.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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