10/10/2019 Peter J.

Ratcliffe - Wikipedia

Peter J. Ratcliffe
Sir Peter John Ratcliffe, FRS, FMedSci (born 14 May 1954) is a British
Peter J. Ratcliffe
Nobel Laureate physician-scientist who is trained as a nephrologist.[1][2][3]
FRS FMedSci
He was a practising clinician at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford and
Nuffield Professor of Clinical Medicine and head of the Nuffield
Department of Clinical Medicine at the University of Oxford from 2004 to
2016. In 2016 he became Clinical Research Director at the Francis Crick
Institute,[4] retaining a position at Oxford as member of the Ludwig
Institute of Cancer Research and Director of the Target Discovery Institute,
University of Oxford.[5]

Ratcliffe is best known for his work on cellular reactions to hypoxia, for
which he shared the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with
William Kaelin Jr. and Gregg L. Semenza.[6][7]

Contents
Born 14 May 1954
Education and training
Morecambe, England,
Career
UK
Research
Education Gonville and Caius
Personal life
College, Cambridge
Selected honours and awards
(BS, MD)
References
Queen Mary
External links University of London
(MBBS)

Awards Fellow of the Royal

Education and training Society
Ratcliffe was born in Lancashire[8] on 14 May 1954, to William Ratcliffe Albert Lasker Award
and Alice Margaret Ratcliffe.[9] He attended Lancaster Royal Grammar for Basic Medical
School for boys.[10] He won an open scholarship to Gonville and Caius Research
College, Cambridge in 1972 to study Medicine at the University of Physiological Society
Cambridge[11] and then completed his Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Annual Review Prize
Surgery at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry of Lecture
Queen Mary University of London in 1978.[12] Louis-Jeantet Prize for
Medicine
Ratcliffe then trained in renal medicine at Oxford University, focusing on
Knight Bachelor
renal oxygenation.[13] He earned a higher MD degree from University of
Fellow of the
Cambridge in 1987.[14]
Academy of Medical
Sciences
Career EMBO Membership
Baly Medal
In 1990, Ratcliffe received a Wellcome Trust Senior Fellowship to study
Grand Prix scientifique
cellular responses to hypoxia from low oxygen levels in the blood.[12][15]
de la Fondation

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In 2002, Ratcliffe was accepted into the Academy of Medical Sciences and Lefoulon-Delalande
was appointed the following year the Nuffield Professor and Head of the Robert J. and Claire
Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine at Oxford.[16] Pasarow Foundation
Medical Research

Research Award
Nobel Prize in
In 1989, Ratcliffe established a Physiology or
laboratory in Oxford Medicine
University's Nuffield
Scientific career
Department of Medicine to
Institutions Francis Crick Institute
explore the regulation of
Nuffield Department of
erythropoietin (EPO), a
Population Health,
hormone released by the
University of Oxford
kidneys and responsible for
Nobel Prize in Physiology/ Medicine stimulating the production of Website Official website (http://
2019: Cellular Oxygen Sensing and red blood cells. EPO was known ndm.ox.ac.uk/principal
Adaption to be produced by the kidneys -investigators/researc
in response to low oxygen her/peter-ratcliffe)
levels, and Ratcliffe's work
looked to understand the mechanisms of how the kidneys detected hypoxia (low oxygen levels in the blood) to trigger
EPO production. From his studies, Ratcliffe discovered that the mRNA from kidneys that were part of the EPO
production pathway that were capable of detecting hypoxia was also present in several other organs, both human and
animal, including the spleen, brain, and testes.[17] His group found that cells from these organs could switch on EPO
production when deprived of oxygen.[16] Further, Ratcliffe was able to modify other cells using the identified mRNA to
give these cells oxygen-sensing capabilities.[17]

Building on these discoveries, the Ratcliffe group, along with joint studies with William Kaelin and Gregg Semenza,
helped to uncover a detailed molecular chain of events that cells use to sense oxygen. A specific step identified was the
binding of proteins expressed by the Von Hippel–Lindau tumor suppressor gene (VHL) to hypoxia-inducible factors
(HIF), a protein expressed from the EPO genes which is essential in EPO production. Ratcliffe found that the VHL
protein is produced when oxygen is present at acceptable levels; the VHL protein binds to the HIF protein which
ultimately leads to the HIF protein's destruction. When oxygen levels fall, the VHL is no longer produced, allowing the
HIF to remain and produce EPO. This is a process that takes minutes to complete allowing the body to react quickly to
hypoxia.[18]

This same pathway is also switched on in many cancer tumours, allowing them to create new blood vessels to sustain
their growth. Much of the current understanding of hypoxia has emerged from the laboratory of Ratcliffe.[13] The
understanding of the molecular pathway of EPO production from hypoxia has led to the development of drugs that
block VHL from binding with HIF to help treat patients with anaemia and renal failure.[18]

Personal life
Ratcliffe married Fiona Mary MacDougall in 1983.[9]

Selected honours and awards

Ratcliffe has received a number of awards, accolades, and honours for his seminal work on hypoxia.

The Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine (2009)[19][20]

The Canada Gairdner International Award (2010)[12]
The Lasker Award, along with William Kaelin and Gregg Semenza (2016)[17][21]

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Buchanan Medal of the Royal Society (2017)[22]

Massry Prize (2018)[23]
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, along with William Kaelin and Gregg Semenza (2019)[24][7]
He was knighted in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to clinical medicine.[25]

References
1. Peter Ratcliffe - Hypoxia Biology Laboratory (https://www.crick.ac.uk/research/find-a-researcher/peter-ratcliffe) -
website of the Francis Crick Institute
2. Biologists who decoded how cells sense oxygen win medicine Nobel (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019
-02963-0) - website of the scientific journal Nature
3. Sir Peter Ratcliffe (https://eebmb2018.gr/sir-peter-ratcliffe/) - website of the Hellenic Society of Biochemistry and
Molecular Biology
4. "Peter Ratcliffe | The Francis Crick Institute" (https://www.crick.ac.uk/research/a-z-researchers/researchers-p-s/pe
ter-ratcliffe/). The Francis Crick Institute. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
5. "Peter Ratcliffe" (https://www.crick.ac.uk/research/find-a-researcher/peter-ratcliffe). Crick. Retrieved 8 October
2019.
6. "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2019" (https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2019/summary/).
NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
7. Kolata, Gina; Specia, Megan (7 October 2019). "Nobel Prize in Medicine Awarded for Research on How Cells
Manage Oxygen" (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/07/health/nobel-prize-medicine.html). The New York Times.
Retrieved 8 October 2019.
8. "Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe – Facts – 2019" (https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2019/ratcliffe/facts/). The Nobel
Prize. Nobel Media AB. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
9. "Ratcliffe, Sir Peter (John)" (https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.001.0001/ww-97801
99540884-e-43812). Who's Who. A & C Black. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-
43812 (https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fww%2F9780199540884.001.0001%2Fww-9780199540884-e-43812).
Retrieved 9 October 2019.
10. Gayle Rouncivell (8 October 2019). "Former Lancaster Royal Grammar School pupil to be awarded Nobel Prize"
(https://www.lep.co.uk/business/former-lancaster-royal-grammar-school-pupil-to-be-awarded-nobel-prize-1-10040
396). The Francis Crick Institute. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
11. "Cambridge alumnus Sir Peter Ratcliffe awarded 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine" (https://www.cam.a
c.uk/research/news/cambridge-alumnus-sir-peter-ratcliffe-awarded-2019-nobel-prize-in-physiology-or-medicine).
University of Cambridge. 7 October 2019. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
12. "Peter J. Ratcliffe" (http://www.gairdner.org/content/peter-j-ratcliffe). Gairdner. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
13. "Sir Peter J Ratcliffe wins the Nobel Prize in Medicine 2019" (http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2019-10-07-sir-peter-j-ratc
liffe-wins-nobel-prize-medicine-2019). University of Oxford. 7 October 2019. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
14. "Peter Ratcliffe" (https://www.crick.ac.uk/research/find-a-researcher/peter-ratcliffe). The Francis Crick Institute. 7
October 2019. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
15. "Professor Sir Peter Ratcliffe" (https://www.magd.ox.ac.uk/member-of-staff/peter-ratcliffe/). Magdalen College.
University of Oxford. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
16. "Professor Sir Peter Ratcliffe to give this year's Linacre Lecture" (https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/professor-sir-peter-rat
cliffe-give-years-linacre-lecture). St John's College Cambridge. 11 January 2018. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
17. Hurst, Jillian H. (13 September 2016). "William Kaelin, Peter Ratcliffe, and Gregg Semenza receive the 2016
Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5096796/). The
Journal of Clinical Investigation. 126 (10): 3628–3638. doi:10.1172/JCI90055 (https://doi.org/10.1172%2FJCI9005
5). ISSN 0021-9738 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0021-9738). PMC 5096796 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/
articles/PMC5096796). PMID 27620538 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27620538). "Further support for
an oxygen-sensing mechanism was provided by the discovery of erythropoietin (EPO), a glycoprotein hormone
that stimulates erythrocyte production [...] During the same time period in which Semenza was developing EPO-
transgenic mice, Peter Ratcliffe, a physician and kidney specialist, was establishing a laboratory in Oxford
University’s Nuffield Department of Medicine to study the regulation of EPO"

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18. Ledford, Heidi; Callaway, Ewen (7 October 2019). "Biologists who decoded how cells sense oxygen win medicine
Nobel" (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02963-0). Nature. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
19. "Wellcome Trust | Wellcome Trust" (http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/News/2009/News/WTX053976.htm).
Wellcome.ac.uk. 26 March 2009. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
20. "Nuffield Department of Medicine - Prof Peter J Ratcliffe FRS" (http://www.ndm.ox.ac.uk/principal-investigators/res
earcher/peter-ratcliffe). Ndm.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
21. Foundation, Lasker. "Oxygen sensing – an essential process for survival" (http://www.laskerfoundation.org/award
s/show/oxygen-sensing-essential-process-survival/). The Lasker Foundation. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
22. "Buchanan Medal" (https://royalsociety.org/grants-schemes-awards/awards/buchanan-medal/). Royal Society.
Retrieved 11 December 2017.
23. "Massry Prize 2018 – Keck School of Medicine of USC" (https://keck.usc.edu/events/massry-prize-2018/).
Retrieved 8 October 2019.
24. "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2019" (https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2019/summary/).
NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
25. "No. 60728" (https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/60728/supplement/2). The London Gazette
(Supplement). 31 December 2013. p. 2.

External links
Personal Webpage at the University of Oxford (https://www.ndm.ox.ac.uk/principal-investigators/researcher/peter-
ratcliffe)

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Peter_J._Ratcliffe&oldid=920465603"

This page was last edited on 9 October 2019, at 23:48 (UTC).

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