Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly awarded to 3 scientists

William G. Kaelin Jr, Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe and Gregg L. Semenza have been awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology.

The 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded jointly to William G. Kaelin Jr, Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe and Gregg L. Semenza "for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability."

"The seminal discoveries by this year's Nobel laureates revealed the mechanism for one of life's most essential adaptive processes," the Nobel Assembly at Sweden's Karolinska Institute said in a statement on awarding the prize of 9 million Swedish crowns (USD 913,000).

Oxygen sensing is believed to be central to a large number of diseases. The discoveries made by this year's Nobel Prize laureates are said to have paved the way for promising new strategies to fight anemia, cancer and many other diseases. These discoveries have fundamental importance for physiology.

BREAKING NEWS:The 2019 #NobelPrize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded jointly to William G. Kaelin Jr, Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe and Gregg L. Semenza "for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability." pic.twitter.com/6m2LJclOoL

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 7, 2019

2019 Medicine Laureates William G. Kaelin Jr, Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe, and Gregg L. Semenza have identified molecular machinery that regulates the activity of genes in response to varying levels of oxygen.

Medicine is the first of the Nobel Prizes awarded each year. The prizes for achievements in science, peace, and literature have been awarded since 1901 and were created in the will of dynamite inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel.