Ribonucleic acid, or RNA, are molecules that transmit instructions to cells to produce proteins. MicroRNA acts as a controller of this process, which can go wrong and lead to disease if too much or too little protein is made. Ruvkun and Ambros conducted their first studies on roundworms in 1993, but their results apply to all multicellular organisms.

Dr. Jeannie Lee, head of the department of molecular biology at Mass General, said the importance of microRNA was not widely understood at the time. “The amazing thing is that they don’t just target one thing at a time, but actually target a whole network of genes,” she said. “It’s a tiny little RNA that has a big impact on gene expression.”

In a statement Monday, the Nobel Committee in Sweden praised the scientists for helping the research community understand a key principle that governs the regulation of gene activity. Their discovery “proves to be fundamentally important for the development and function of organisms,” said Thomas Perlmann, secretary general of the committee.

Ambros, a Hanover, N.H., native who has worked at the UMass medical school for 15 years, said he missed the Nobel Prize committee’s early morning call because his phone was turned off. Finally, someone reached his adult son, Greg, who called Ambros’ wife, Rosalind Lee, a UMass scientist and research associate. Ambros said he was “amazed” when she broke the news and her son’s message to “pick up the phone if someone calls from Sweden.”

“I hope that recognition of this discovery will further stimulate the enthusiasm of young scientists studying RNA,” Ambros said in an interview Monday, “because RNA is an amazing component of our cells.” Maybe it will inspire more people to do so to get involved in this area.”

At an MGH news conference Monday morning, Ruvkin praised the researchers in his lab and their collaborators for creating an environment where breakthroughs are possible. “The joy of genetics … is the surprises,” he said. “There are about 20,000 genes, and I know about 500, maybe 1,000 of them.”

Ruvkun, a native of Berkeley, California, received his Ph.D. He received his doctorate from Harvard University, was a postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and in 1985 became a principal investigator at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

In a statement Monday morning, UMass Chan Medical School Chancellor Michael F. Collins noted the “world-leading” RNA research community that has taken root at the school. Biologist Craig Mello, a professor of molecular medicine at the school, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2006 along with Andrew Z. Fire of the Stanford School of Medicine in California for the discovery of RNA interference.

Ambros, he said, “is an integral member of a remarkable group of RNA researchers here who are collectively advancing the global understanding of biological mechanisms and advancing the field of biomedical sciences.”

MGH officials, meanwhile, said research into the potential of microRNAs for diagnosing, prognosticating and treating a wide range of genetic diseases has grown from the two original papers published in 1993 by Ruvkun and Ambros to 176,000 papers today.

“Current evidence suggests that most plant and animal genomes, including the human genome, contain more than 1,000 microRNAs that control many protein-coding messenger RNAs and may be involved in a variety of normal and disease-related activities,” they said in a statement Explanation. “Human microRNAs are involved in heart disease, viral pathogenesis, and the regulation of neuronal function and disease. Human therapies based on microRNAs are in clinical trials for heart disease, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases and more.”

Last year, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to Hungarian-American Katalin Karikó and American Drew Weissman for discoveries that enabled the development of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19, which were crucial to slowing the pandemic.

The Medicine Prize has been awarded 114 times to a total of 227 winners – the title is awarded to the winners. Only 13 women have won the prize, which comes with a cash prize of 11 million Swedish crowns ($1 million) from an estate of the prize’s creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel.

Laureates are invited to receive their awards at ceremonies on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death.

The Nobel announcements continue with the Physics Prize on Tuesday, the Chemistry Prize on Wednesday and the Literature Prize on Thursday. The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on Friday and the Economics Prize on October 14th.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report. Travis Andersen from the Globe team contributed.

Emily Sweeney can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @emilysweeney and on Instagram @emilysweeney22. Robert Weisman can be reached at [email protected].