Three research scientists, including a nephrologist, awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for work with how cells sense and adapt to oxygen

Announced on October 7th, the Nobel Prize in Medicine was jointly awarded to a trio of scientists, William G. Kaelin Jr., Peter J. Ratcliffe, and Gregg L. Semenza, for their work on “how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability,” The New York Times reports.

These “investigators uncovered detailed genetic responses to changing oxygen levels that allow cells in the bodies of humans and other animals sense and respond to fluctuations, increasing and decreasing how much oxygen they receive.”

 

Announced on October 7th, the Nobel Prize in Medicine was jointly awarded to a trio of scientists, William G. Kaelin Jr., Peter J. Ratcliffe, and Gregg L. Semenza, for their work on “how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability,” The New York Times reports.

These “investigators uncovered detailed genetic responses to changing oxygen levels that allow cells in the bodies of humans and other animals sense and respond to fluctuations, increasing and decreasing how much oxygen they receive.”

As reported in the New York Times, Peter Ratcliffe is the director of clinical research at the Francis Crick Institute in London, the director of the Target Discovery Institute at Oxford, and a member of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. His studies led him to become a kidney specialist, as he was “fascinated by the way the organs regulate production of EPO in response to the amount of oxygen available,” which led to discoveries resulting in this Nobel Prize.

 “I’m honoured and delighted at the news. I’ve had great support from so many people over the years,” he said in a statement released by Oxford. “It’s a tribute to the lab, to those who helped me set it up and worked with me on the project over the years, to many others in the field, and not least to my family for their forbearance of all the up and downs.”

For more information, please see The New York Times article .

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