Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was to awarded to William G. Kaelin JR, Gregg L. Semenza and Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe for theirdiscoveries of how cells that adapt to the availability of oxygen.

The Academy says: “The seminal discoveries by this year’s Nobel Laureates revealed the mechanism for one of life’s most essential adaptive processes.”

The fundamental importance of oxygen has been understood for centuries, but how cells adapt to changes in levels of oxygen has long been unknown.

Findings with the core in “fundamental adaptive system for animal life” can have a positive impact on the treatment of anemia and cancer.