Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Dr. Semenza’s laboratory discovered, cloned, and characterized hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1), which is the founding member of a family of master regulators that direct transcriptional responses to decreased oxygen availability in virtually all metazoan species. His lab has shown that HIFs play important roles in cardiovascular disorders, cancer, COPD, diabetes, sleep apnea, transplant rejection, ocular neovascularization and hematologic disorders. Evolutionary selection of genetic variants at loci that encode HIF pathway components have been identified in Tibetan populations living at high altitude. HIF stabilizers and HIF inhibitors are currently in clinical trials for the treatment of anemia and cancer, respectively.

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (2019) for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability (shared: William G. Kaelin, Jr., Peter J. Ratcliffe, Gregg L. Semenza)

Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award (2016) For the discovery of the pathway by which cells from humans and most animals sense and adapt to changes in oxygen availability – a process essential for survival (shared: William G. Kaelin, Jr., Peter J. Ratcliffe, Gregg L. Semenza) More

ASCI | Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award (2012) For contributions to the molecular understanding of cellular oxygen sensing and cellular adaptation to hypoxia. More

National Academy of Medicine (2012)

National Academy of Sciences (2008)