World · Science · Press ✓ 5 outlets · citation from the Nobel Committee
Nobel medicine prize goes to Deisseroth, Hegemann and Nagel for optogenetics
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics (nobelprize.org, WUNC/NPR, GPB, St. Louis Public Radio, Biotecnika). Deisseroth is at Stanford, Hegemann at Humboldt University in Berlin and Nagel at Würzburg. Optogenetics lets scientists switch nerve cells on and off with light.
The method has changed how brain circuits are studied.
It may feed future treatments for neurological and eye conditions.
Science prizes are slow to translate; the technology matters more for research than for the clinic so far.
DailyDrop Pakistan edition No. 2 · Morning · TUE., OCT. 6, 2026