Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel have won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics.
Hegemann and Nagel laid the foundation for the field through their discovery of channelrhodopsins, light-sensitive proteins that control the movement of ions across cell membranes. Deisseroth later built on this work to develop methods for using these proteins to control specific neurons.
Optogenetics combines genetic techniques with light-sensitive proteins, allowing researchers to activate or inhibit selected nerve cells with light. The technique has since become an important tool in neuroscience, helping scientists study how groups of neurons are involved in functions such as movement, memory and behaviour.
The Nobel Assembly said the discoveries had transformed understanding of how individual nerve cells function and how the brain controls them.
Deisseroth is a professor at Stanford University, while Hegemann is based at Humboldt University of Berlin and Nagel is a professor at the University of Würzburg.
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was announced at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm on October 5. Deisseroth, Hegemann and Nagel will share the prize equally, with the award carrying a total value of 12 million Swedish kronor.
Their work has given researchers a way to manipulate selected nerve cells with a level of precision that was not possible with many earlier techniques, making optogenetics a widely used method for studying the brain.
