The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, and Georg Nagel for their development of optogenetics, a technique that uses light to control the activity of individual neurons. The Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm announced the prize on Monday, citing their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels.
The work began in the early 1990s when Hegemann and Nagel investigated how the single-celled alga Chlamydomonas moves toward light. They identified a light-sensitive protein, channelrhodopsin, that opens an ion channel in cell membranes when illuminated. Deisseroth later introduced the gene for this protein into rat neurons, making it possible to trigger nerve signals in living brains with blue light.
The Nobel Committee said optogenetics offers a way to map the brain that was previously only a dream. The technique lets researchers identify which cells are responsible for specific functions and how they connect, and it is being explored as a treatment for disease. Both STAT and New Scientist report the same details, with no conflicting information.