Resource Guides: Research of Dr. Victor Ambros, Nobel Laureate: Resources

Dr. Victor Ambros is a Professor of Molecular Medicine and Silverman Professor of Natural Sciences at UMass Chan Medical School. He was also awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2024 for discoveries in microRNA and post-transcriptional gene regulation.

Victor Ambros grew up in Vermont and graduated from MIT in 1975. He did his graduate research (1976-1979) with David Baltimore at MIT, studying poliovirus genome structure and replication. He began to study the genetic pathways controlling developmental timing in the nematode C. elegans as a postdoc in H. Robert Horvitz's lab at MIT, and continued those studies while on the faculty of Harvard (1984-1992), Dartmouth (1992-2007), and the University of Massachusetts Medical School (2008-present). In 1993, members of the Ambros lab identified the first microRNA, the product of lin-4, a heterochronic gene of C. elegans. Since then, the role of microRNAs in development has been a major focus of his research. -from RNS Biography

Read the full profile written by UMass Chan Medical School Communications to Learn more about Victor Ambros.

Visit the Ambros Lab in Molecular Medicine for more information on lab research, members, and events.

Or view these profile pages:

Victor Ambros, PhD
UMass Chancer Center Research Faculty Profile
Victor Ambros - RNS Profile
UMass Research Networking Software Profile
Victor Ambros - Facts
Profile page from the Nobel Prize

Nobel Prize News and Celebration

UMass Chan scientist Victor Ambros wins Nobel Prize

Announcement of the award of the Nobel Prize in Medicine to Dr. Victor Ambros and an explanation of his research in microRNA.

Champagne toast raised as Nobel winner reacts to news

The initial reactions of Dr. Ambros, family, and colleagues to the news of the Nobel recognition.

Nobel-worthy mentorship: Students rejoice after mentor Victor Ambros wins 2024 Nobel Prize

Reactions and testimony from students working in the Ambros Lab to the Nobel Prize announcement.

Video: Nobel Laureate Victor Ambros celebrates with UMass Chan community

Celebrations and remarks that took place at a press conference on Monday, Oct. 7.

UMass Chan ‘takes pride in calling you one of our own,’ Chancellor tells Nobel-recipient Victor Ambros

Hear remarks from Chancellor Michael F. Collins and watch coverage of celebrations across the UMass Chan campus.

Nobel Laureate Victor Ambros press conference

Watch a video of the UMass Chan Medical School press conference on Monday, Oct. 7, held after the announcement that UMass Chan researcher Victor R. Ambros, PhD, was a co-recipient of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of microRNA.

Hear from Chancellor Michael F. Collins and fellow UMass Chan Nobel Laureate Craig C. Mello, who was mentored by Dr. Ambros. -Published by UMass Chan Communications

Podcast: Victor Ambros on team effort behind Nobel Prize winning discovery of microRNA

A podcast episode from Conversation Weekly where they "speak to Ambros about the discovery that led to his Nobel prize and find out what he’s researching now. And we hear about how a deeper understanding of microRNA is opening up new avenues for potential treatment of cancers and other diseases."

Research and Publications

Click here to browse all of Dr. Ambros's research available through Scholarship@UMassChan.

Or, Click here to view research published by Dr. Ambros on PubMed.

Trans-splicing of the C. elegans let-7 primary transcript developmentally regulates let-7 microRNA biogenesis and let-7 family microRNA activity
Development. 2019 Mar 4;146(5).
The sequence and roles in developmental progression of the microRNA let-7 are conserved. In general, transcription of the let-7 primary transcript (pri-let-7) occurs early in development, whereas processing of the mature let-7 microRNA arises during cellular differentiation. In Caenorhabditis elegans and other animals, the RNA-binding protein LIN-28 post-transcriptionally inhibits let-7 biogenesis at early developmental stages, but the mechanisms by which LIN-28 does this are not fully understood. Nor is it understood how the developmental regulation of let-7 might influence the expression or activities of other microRNAs of the same seed family. Here, we show that pri-let-7 is trans-spliced to the SL1 splice leader downstream of the let-7 precursor stem-loop, which produces a short polyadenylated downstream mRNA, and that this trans-splicing event negatively impacts the biogenesis of mature let-7 microRNA in cis. Moreover, this trans-spliced mRNA contains sequences that are complementary to multiple members of the let-7 seed family (let-7fam) and negatively regulates let-7fam function in trans. Thus, this study provides evidence for a mechanism by which splicing of a microRNA primary transcript can negatively regulate said microRNA in cis as well as other microRNAs in trans.
The C. elegans heterochronic gene lin-4 encodes small RNAs with antisense complementarity to lin-14
Cell, Volume 75, Issue 5, 3 December 1993, Pages 843-854
lin-4 is essential for the normal temporal control of diverse postembryonic developmental events in C. elegans. lin-4 acts by negatively regulating the level of LIN-14 protein, creating a temporal decrease in LIN-14 protein starting in the first larval stage (L1). We have cloned the C. elegans lin-4 locus by chromosomal walking and transformation rescue. We used the C. elegans clone to isolate the gene from three other Caenorhabditis species; all four Caenorhabditis clones functionally rescue the lin-4 null allele of C. elegans. Comparison of the lin-4 genomic sequence from these four species and site-directed mutagenesis of potential open reading frames indicated that lin-4 does not encode a protein. Two small lin-4 transcripts of approximately 22 and 61 nt were identified in C. elegans and found to contain sequences complementary to a repeated sequence element in the 3' untranslated region (UTR) of lin-14 mRNA, suggesting that lin-4 regulates lin-14 translation via an antisense RNA-RNA interaction.