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Three scientists have shared this year’s Nobel prize in physiology or medicine for discovering how cells respond to varying oxygen levels in the body, one of the most essential adaptive processes for life, The Guardian reports.

William Kaelin Jr at Harvard University; Sir Peter Ratcliffe at Oxford University and the Francis Crick Institute in London; and Gregg Semenza at Johns Hopkins University won for “how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability,” the Nobel committee said.

Beyond describing a fundamental physiological process that helps humans to thrive in some of the highest regions on Earth, the mechanism has given researchers new insights into treatments for

This year’s Nobel laureates “have greatly expanded our knowledge of how physiological response makes life possible,” said Randall Johnson, professor of molecular physiology and pathology at Cambridge University.

They will share the 9m Swedish krona (£740,000) equally.