The 1938 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Corneille Heymans awarded discoveries showing how blood oxygen sensing via the carotid body controls our respiratory rate by communicating directly with the brain. The carotid body, adjacent to large blood vessels on both sides of the neck, contains specialized cells that sense the blood’s oxygen levels. Otto Warburg, the recipient of the 1931 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, revealed that this conversion is an enzymatic process.ĭuring evolution, mechanisms developed to ensure a sufficient supply of oxygen to tissues and cells. Oxygen is essential for animal life: it is used by the mitochondria present in virtually all animal cells in order to convert food into useful energy. Oxygen, with the formula O 2, makes up about one fifth of Earth’s atmosphere. Their discoveries have also paved the way for promising new strategies to fight anemia, cancer and many other diseases. They established the basis for our understanding of how oxygen levels affect cellular metabolism and physiological function. The seminal discoveries by this year’s Nobel Laureates revealed the mechanism for one of life’s most essential adaptive processes. They identified molecular machinery that regulates the activity of genes in response to varying levels of oxygen. Semenza discovered how cells can sense and adapt to changing oxygen availability. The fundamental importance of oxygen has been understood for centuries, but how cells adapt to changes in levels of oxygen has long been unknown. Semenzaįor their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availabilityĪnimals need oxygen for the conversion of food into useful energy. The 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet Press release: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2019 English Share via Email: Press release: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2019 Share this content via Email.Share on LinkedIn: Press release: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2019 Share this content on LinkedIn.Tweet: Press release: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2019 Share this content on Twitter.Share on Facebook: Press release: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2019 Share this content on Facebook.