At NC-BIIS 2026, 2019 Nobel Laureate Dr. Gregg L. Semenza delivered a keynote on his groundbreaking work on hypoxia-inducible factors (HIF) — the molecular system cells use to sense and adapt to oxygen levels. He presented two promising drug candidates: S9N, a first-in-class dual HIF-1/HIF-2 inhibitor that blocks tumor growth, overcomes immunotherapy resistance in cancers like glioblastoma and triple-negative breast cancer, and acts as a "master key" to open tumor defenses for immune cells; and 32-134D, an eye drop therapy candidate targeting multiple angiogenic factors upstream of VEGF for diabetic retinopathy and wet age-related macular degeneration — potentially replacing painful intravitreal injections with non-invasive topical treatment. The talk traced the full translational journey from Nobel Prize-winning basic science to the clinical pipeline at HIF Therapeutics.