James Rothman and Randy Schekman from the USA, and Thomas Südhof from Germany, have won the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

The prize was announced at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm on Monday.

The three researchers were awarded the prize for revealing how the cell organises its transport system.  Their research on how cells transport material sheds light on how insulin, which controls blood sugar levels, is made and released into the blood at the right place at the right time.

The three scientists

James Rothman is a professor at Yale University, Randy Schekman is a professor at the University of California at Berkeley, while Thomas Südhof is a professor at Stanford University.

Medicine is the first of the Nobel prizes to be announced each year.  The prizes, valued at 8 million Swedish crowns (1.2 million USD), were established in the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel in 1895.