Medicine Nobel goes to Deisseroth, Hegemann and Nagel for using light to switch nerve cells on
The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute awarded the 2026 Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Karl Deisseroth of Stanford, Peter Hegemann of Humboldt University in Berlin and Georg Nagel of the University of Würzburg, for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics. Hegemann and Nagel identified light-sensitive channel proteins from algae. Deisseroth showed how to put them into chosen neurons so researchers can turn those cells on or off with light and watch the effect on behaviour. The prize is 12 million Swedish kronor, about US$1.2 million. Physics follows on Tuesday, Chemistry on Wednesday, Literature on Thursday and Peace on Friday.
Optogenetics changed neuroscience from correlation to cause. Scientists can now test which cells drive a behaviour, and the method has been used in work on movement disorders, vision and mood.
No treatment changes this week. The prize rewards a laboratory tool that is still mostly used in animals.
The sentence to keep is that a protein from pond algae became a switch for the brain. The prizes this week are, as usual, for work done decades ago.
DailyDrop Australia edition No. 1 · Morning · MON., OCT. 5, 2026