The 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded Monday morning to a trio of scientists for their research into cellular adaptations to oxygen availability.

In a ceremony in Stockholm, the Nobel Assembly announced that William G. Kaelin Jr of Harvard University, Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe of the Francis Crick Institute in London, and Gregg L. Semenza of Johns Hopkins University had been selected for this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work studying hypoxia.

The assembly said that the three had been chosen “for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability.”

Specifically, the prize committee noted the importance of the research in understanding changes in the human body as varied as wound healing, altitude sickness, and pregnancy, while also explaining how various species were able to adapt to varying climates and altitudes with differing oxygen levels.