Discovery of How Cells Use Oxygen Wins 2019 Nobel Prize in Medicine

“Oxygen is essential for life, and is used by virtually all animal cells in order to convert food to usable energy”

These are the words shared from one of the members of the Nobel Committee at a press conference in Sweden announcing the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The award went to three researchers who helped reveal the mechanism by which cells in the body sense and adapt to oxygen availability. William Kaelin, Jr., Peter Ratcliffe, and Gregg Semenza shared the prize for their work, which has played a critical role in understanding—and ultimately treating—diseases such as anemia and cancer. The scientists will share the prize, worth nine million Swedish kronor ($907,695).

The discoveries by the trio illuminated what the Nobel Committee called “one of life’s most essential adaptive processes,” answering profound questions about how the body works and providing potential new therapeutic avenues to treat cancer and other diseases. They fundamentally defined how cells in the body sense oxygen, and how the cells respond to an abundance of oxygen or absence of oxygen.

Oxygen is necessary for animal life during the oxidation reactions that drive the conversion of nutrients in food to ATP, the energy fuel. Indeed, calibrating cellular conditions to the amount of available oxygen is a critical aspect of controlling metabolism. 

You can learn more here: https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a29390749/nobel-prize-2019-winners-breathing-oxygen/

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