Announcement of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2019
How our cells sense and respond to oxygen levels. Hypoxia Inducible Factor. Hypoxia is when there is too little oxygen. The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2019 was awarded jointly to William G. Kaelin Jr, Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe and Gregg L. Semenza "for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability." This fundamental system regulates how our bodies respond to the level of oxygen available. It is also important in cancer tumor tissue because the system is used by tumor cells to help provide the blood supply the tumor needs to grow. Also, genes like EPO, Erythropoetin. EPO, is that the factor that Tour de France bikers were using to increase their levels of red blood cells for more oxygen? Yes. Same one. How does HIF work?
