Johns Hopkins Researcher, Professor Wins Nobel Prize For Medicine

A Johns Hopkins researcher has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine, the Nobel Assembly announced Monday morning. He was one of three doctors whose research revealed how cells respond to the availability of oxygen.

Gregg L. Semenza, M.D., Ph.D., is a professor of genetic medicine for Johns Hopkins Medicine and is the director of the vascular program for the Johns Hopkins Institute for Cell Engineering.

Semenza, William G. Kaelin Jr. of Harvard University and British scientist Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe were all awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology. Each made separate discoveries in their laboratories that overlapped to elucidate how cells respond to oxygen.

"The seminal discoveries by this year’s Nobel Laureates revealed the mechanism for one of life’s most essential adaptive processes. They established the basis for our understanding of how oxygen levels affect cellular metabolism and physiological function," according to a statement from the Nobel Committee. "Their discoveries have also paved the way for promising new strategies to fight anemia, cancer and many other diseases."