American And British Scientists Split The Nobel Prize For Work On How Cells Handle Hypoxia
According to the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, this year’s Nobel Laureates identified the mechanism for, “one of life’s most essential adaptive processes.” Animals use oxygen to convert food into energy. While we have understood the importance of oxygen’s function in the body for centuries, it was not until this collaboration that we now grasp how cells adapt to shifts in oxygen levels. When oxygen levels are critically low—a state called hypoxia—the body responds with a boost in the hormone erythropoietin (EPO) from the kidneys....