how cells sense oxygen

William Kaelin, Peter Ratcliffe and Gregg Semenza have together worked out how genes respond when oxygen is depleted. (Ill. Niklas Elmedhed/Nobel Media)

Nobel for discovery of how cells sense oxygen Three researchers have won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for describing how cells sense and respond to oxygen by switching genes on and off. Cancer researcher William Kaelin, physician-scientist Peter Ratcliffe and geneticist Gregg Semenza also won the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award in 2016. Among the applications of their discovery is a better understanding of how the body reacts when oxygen levels drop owing to exercise or stroke, and efforts to manipulate the response to slow the growth of oxygen-hungry cancer tumours. Nature | 3 min read Discovery of Molecular Switch for How Cells Use Oxygen Wins 2019 Nobel Prize in Medicine