What is microRNA? Nobel-winning discovery explained

The Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded on Monday to two U.S. scientists for discovering microRNA, a previously unknown type of genetic switch that could pave the way for new medical breakthroughs.

But while several treatments and tests are under development using microRNAs against cancer, heart disease, viruses and other illnesses, none have actually yet reached patients.

And the world paid little attention when the new Nobel laureates Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun revealed their discovery decades ago, thinking it was just “something weird about worms,” Cambridge University geneticist Eric Miska said.