Josep Carreras Leukemia Research Institute
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Researcher of the Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia group at the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute
ICREA Research Professor at the Josep Carrera Leukaemia Institute
Leader of the RNA and Chromatin Regulation Group at the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute
The Karolinska Institute has awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for the discovery of microRNAs, small RNA fragments that do not contain instructions for making proteins but instead participate in the regulation of gene expression. Their role is fundamental in processes such as cell differentiation, and their alteration can influence diseases like cancer.
Newborns with Down syndrome, as they grow, face a higher risk of developing leukemia compared to those without the syndrome. An international team has sequenced the genes of more than 1.1 million cells from fetuses with and without Down syndrome, and it has discovered that the extra chromosome 21 they have alters the way DNA is packaged inside cells. According to the authors, whose research is published in Nature, this difference affects the regulation of certain genes and may contribute to the development of leukemia.