Peter J. Ratcliffe, M.D. trained as a nephrologist, then founded the Oxford Hypoxia Biology Laboratory, initially studying the regulation of erythropoietin by the kidney. His laboratory demonstrated the existence of a widespread system of oxygen sensing in animal cells and elucidated the mechanism by which oxygen levels are signalled though the post-translational hydroxylation of the key transcription factor Hypoxia Inducible Factor (HIF). The laboratory is currently engaged in the biochemical and physiological characterization of these and related oxygenases, and in the exploration of their therapeutic potential in human disease.

Professor Ratcliffe received his degrees from the University of Cambridge and medical training at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London and Oxford University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and a recipient several international awards for his laboratory’s work on oxygen sensing, including the Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine, the Canada Gairdner International Award and the Lasker Award. He was knighted for his services to medicine in 2014.

In May 2016 he took up the position of Director of Clinical Research at the Francis Crick Institute, London, and in June 2016 he took up the position of Director of the Target Discovery Institute at the University of Oxford.