Stockholm, Oct 6:
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Medicine has been awarded to scientists Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for their pioneering work on how light can be used to control nerve cells and study brain activity.
The Nobel Assembly recognised their research into light-gated ion channels and optogenetics, a technique that has opened new ways of understanding how individual nerve cells and circuits in the brain function. The method is now widely used in laboratories to study the mechanisms behind behaviour and disease.
Hegemann and Nagel discovered a light-sensitive protein in single-celled green algae that responds to blue light by opening a channel and generating an electrical impulse. Deisseroth later used the gene responsible for the protein to develop a light-controlled switch for nerve cells in living mice.
The breakthrough has ushered in a new era in neuroscience by allowing researchers to switch specific neurons on or off with great precision. The technique could help scientists better understand neurological and psychiatric disorders and develop new approaches to treatment. The prize carries 12 million Swedish kronor, or about $1.2 million.