Berkeley native Gary Ruvkun and Victor Ambros win Nobel Prize in medicine for discovery of microRNA

By DANIEL NIEMANN, MARIA CHENG and MIKE CORDER | Associated Press

STOCKHOLM  — Two scientists won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine on Monday for their discovery of microRNA, tiny bits of genetic material that serve as on and off switches inside cells that help control what the cells do and when they do it.

If scientists can better understand how they work and how to manipulate them, it could one day lead to powerful treatments for diseases like cancer.

The work by...