The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet will announce the recipient(s) of the award. The prizes in the remaining fields, including Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Peace, and Economic Sciences, will be announced sequentially from 6/10 to 12/10.
In 2025, three scientists from the US and Japan jointly received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their foundational discoveries regarding immune system control mechanisms. The award honored the work on "peripheral immune tolerance" by Mary E. Brunkow from the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, US; Fred Ramsdell from the biotechnology company Sonoma Biotherapeutics, US; and Shimon Sakaguchi from Osaka University, Japan.
The Nobel Assembly stated that the scientists' work identified "regulatory T cells", which play a protective role in the immune system. This discovery laid the foundation for an entirely new field of medical research. These findings have also been translated into potential therapies, currently in clinical trials.
These therapies offer hope for treating or curing autoimmune diseases, developing more effective cancer treatments, and preventing severe complications after stem cell transplantation.
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Nobel Prize in Literature 2021 medal. *Photo: AFP*
In 2024, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to two American scientists, Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun, for their research on microRNA and its role in gene regulation. This discovery was considered a breakthrough in molecular biology, opening new avenues of research into the role of microRNA.
Genetic studies indicate that cells and tissues will not develop normally without microRNA. Abnormal microRNA regulation, which can contribute to cancer development and mutations in microRNA-encoding genes, has been found in humans, leading to issues such as congenital hearing loss, eye and bone disorders.
The Nobel Prize is an international award established by the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm in 1901, based on the estate of Alfred Nobel, a Swedish inventor and entrepreneur. To date, the Nobel Assembly has awarded a total of 116 prizes in Physiology or Medicine. The youngest laureate was scientist Frederick G. Banting, honored at age 31 for discovering insulin. The oldest was Peyton Rous for his work discovering tumor-inducing viruses; he was named in 1966, at age 87.
The recipient(s) of the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine will receive a medal, a diploma, and a prize sum of 12 million Swedish kronor (approximately 1,27 million USD) per category. This marks an increase of 1 million kronor compared to last year's prize. Scientists often wait decades for their work to be recognized by the Nobel Jury.
*Binh Minh (Nobel Prize)*
