Three scientists share 2026 Nobel medicine prize for optogenetics

The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet on October 5 awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics, a technique that uses light to control the activity of individual nerve cells. The committee said optogenetics enables researchers to switch nerve cells on or off in a living brain. Laboratories use the method to investigate how the brain functions, according to the committee. The award recognizes the discoveries that made the approach possible, rather than an established medical treatment; one account said therapeutic applications are being studied but supplied no clinical evidence or treatment outcomes. The work developed through contributions by the three laureates. Hegemann and Nagel discovered channelrhodopsin, a light-sensitive protein found in algae. Their research showed that cells containing the protein could respond to light. Deisseroth later introduced the gene for the protein into rat neurons and used blue light to trigger nerve signals, helping establish the method for controlling neural activity.