The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded jointly to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, and Georg Nagel for discovering light-activated ion channels and laying the foundation for optogenetics. This field combines genetics and optics to control single nerve cells in living brains using light, helping scientists understand how the brain processes emotions and memories.
German researchers Hegemann and Nagel discovered channelrhodopsin, a protein that makes cells light-sensitive. American scientist Deisseroth then successfully introduced the gene into rat nerve cells, using blue light to trigger nerve signals and control brain activity in live mice.
This announcement opens Nobel Prize week, which continues on October 6 for Physics and October 7 for Chemistry.
