April 28, 2008

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Genetics Professor Takes Gairdner Award

Courtesy Massachusetts General Hospital Gary Ruvkun

Gary Ruvkun, HMS professor of genetics at Massachusetts General Hospital, has recently received two awards for his role in the discovery of small RNAs that silence genes. Ruvkun was honored with a 2008 Gairdner Award for his role in the discovery of microRNAs, which caused a major shift in the understanding of gene regulation. Out of that work also came the discoveries that the mechanism of microRNA regulation of target mRNAs is post-transcriptional and that some microRNA genes are conserved across animal phyla. Ruvkun and his collaborators have also made computational discoveries of hundreds of microRNAs and the identification of a common core microRNA and RNA interference mechanism. He shares the award, which is presented by the Gairdner Foundation of Canada, with collaborator Victor Ambros of the University of Massachusetts Medical School. The honor recognizes outstanding contributions by medical scientists whose work will significantly improve the quality of life.

The Ruvkun lab also investigates longevity and fat storage. He and his colleagues discovered that, like mammals, C. elegans uses an insulin-signaling pathway to control its metabolism and longevity, and they showed that insulin signaling in the nervous system is key to lifespan. Currently, his lab is investigating how approximately 100 other gene inactivations cause an increase in lifespan in C.elegans.

Ruvkun also won the 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Sciences for his microRNA discoveries, an honor he shares with colleagues Ambros and David Baulcombe of the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.

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