Three scientists have shared this year’s Nobel prize in physiology or medicine for discovering how cells use oxygen to burn fuel and help the body maintain and grow new tissues, 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.

This year’s nobel laureates “have greatly expanded our knowledge of how physiological response makes life possible,” a spokesman said.

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