The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was jointly awarded to three 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 men discovered how cells can sense and adapt to the changes in oxygen availability and identified the components that regulate how genes respond to oxygen levels.
The work of the three men “identified the molecular machinery that regulates the activity of genes in response to varying levels of oxygen. While the role of oxygen in the process of converting food into useful energy has long been understood, the assembly said, the way that cells adapt to changing oxygen levels remained unknown.
The discoveries — some of which date back to the mid 1990s — have proved fundamentally important for physiology and shed light on the previously unknown mechanics of how cells respond to changes in their environment. The work established a new basis for understanding cellular metabolism and physiological function, and enhanced understanding of the body’s metabolism, immune response and ability to adapt to exercise.
