The 2018 Nobel Prize for Chemistry has been jointly awarded to one UK and two US scientists for their work in harnessing the power of evolution.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awards the prize, said this year's laureates have taken control of evolution and used the same principles - genetic change and selection - to develop proteins that solve humankind's chemical problems.
It said the methods the scientists have researched are now being internationally developed to promote a greener chemicals industry, produce new materials, manufacture sustainable biofuels, mitigate disease and save lives.
Professor Frances H Arnold, a chemical engineer at the California Institute of Technology is receiving half of this year's prestigious award for her work on enzymes.
She was responsible for the first "directed evolution" of enzymes - proteins that drive chemical reactions.
Since then she has developed other methods and enzymes that are produced through directed evolution that are now used to manufacture everything from green biofuels to pharmaceuticals.
While George P Smith, who works at the University of Missouri, and Sir Gregory P Winter, who is based at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the University of Cambridge, are receiving the other half in recognition for their work on "the phage display of peptides and antibodies."
Dr Smith developed phage display - a method where a virus that infects bacteria can be used to evolve new proteins.
Sir Gregory Winter then used phage display to produce antibodies that can neutralise toxins.
The first one based on this method, called adalimumab, was approved for clinical use sixteen years ago and is now used for rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and inflammatory bowel diseases.
Further development of the phage display technique has led to to the production of antibodies that can counteract autoimmune diseases and cure metastatic cancer.
The prize winners will share almost €900,000, with Dr Arnold receiving half the fund and Drs Smith and Winter receiving the other half.
