How Cells Sense Oxygen Levels: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

William Kaelin, Jr., Peter Ratcliffe and Gregg Semenza share the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability.” New therapies for cancer and conditions such as anemia are in the pipeline, based on these discoveries.  

Join Our Community of Science Lovers!

This is Scientific American’s Science Talk. I’m Steve Mirsky, on October 7, 2019.

“The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute has today decided to award the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly toWilliam Kaelin, Sir Peter Ratcliffe and Gregg Semenza for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability.”

Thomas Perlmann, secretary of the Nobel Assembly, shortly after 5:30 A.M. (Eastern Time).


On supporting science journalism

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.


“Gregg Semenza was born in 1956 in New York. He performed his prizewinning studies at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where he’s still active. Sir Peter Ratcliffe was born in 1954 in Lancashire in the U.K. He performed his prizewinning studies at Oxford University. And he’s continuing to do his research at Oxford University, and he’s also at the Francis Crick Institute in London. And William Kaelin, born in 1957 in New York—he performed his prizewinning studies at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, where he’s still active in his own lab.”

MORE PERLMANN AND JOHNSON

Before things get too complicated, I want to jump to an interview Randall Johnson did after the Nobel announcements. Johnson’s own research is on the effects of low oxygen, so he really knows his stuff. He spoke to an unidentified interviewer, but based on the programs in past years, I believe she was Swedish journalist Joanna Rose.   

THE INTERVIEW

Okay, now back to Johnson during the earlier announcement for some nuts and bolts about oxygen sensing in cells.

MORE FROM THE ANNOUNCEMENT AND PRESS CONFERENCE

We plan to be back tomorrow with coverage of the Nobel Prize in Physics.

It’s Time to Stand Up for Science

If you enjoyed this article, I’d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.

I’ve been a Scientific American subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.

If you subscribe to Scientific American, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.

In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can't-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world's best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.

There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you’ll support us in that mission.

Thank you,

David M. Ewalt, Editor in Chief, Scientific American

Subscribe