Stockholm, Oct 6: Three prominent researchers were awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday for developing optogenetics, a revolutionary technique that employs light to control individual nerve cells within the brain.
The Nobel Assembly at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute announced that American scientist Karl Deisseroth alongside German researchers Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel will share the prestigious award and its prize sum of 12 million Swedish crowns, equivalent to $1.2 million.
The scientific journey began in the early 1990s when Hegemann examined how single-celled green algae navigate toward light sources.
Hegemann and Nagel identified a unique protein that opens a channel to generate electrical impulses when exposed to blue light, rendering other cells light-sensitive when the protein is introduced. Deisseroth subsequently utilized the controlling gene to design a light-operated switch targeting nerve cells in living brain tissue.
The resulting innovation allows researchers globally to examine neural mechanisms with unprecedented precision. The trio holds academic positions across major research institutions, with Deisseroth based at Stanford University in California, Hegemann at Humboldt University in Berlin, and Nagel at the University of Würzburg in Germany.
“This method makes it possible to switch on, or off, the activity of individual nerve cells in a living brain,” declared Thomas Perlmann, Secretary-General of the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute. He maintained that the method is actively utilized in research laboratories worldwide to unravel longstanding neurological mysteries.
Scientific leaders affirmed that the methodology establishes a foundational shift for brain research across multiple disciplines.
“For the first time we can actually start to understand how the brain processes information and how different neurons interact across the brain,” stated Anna Wedell, professor of genetics and member of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine, who asserted that a new era in neuroscience has opened.
Deisseroth’s wife, Michelle Monje-Deisseroth, who conducts research on brain cancers, mentioned that the couple received the early morning call from Stockholm while asleep. The announcement marks the opening of the 2026 Nobel Prize season, with forthcoming reveals scheduled throughout the week for physics, chemistry, literature, peace, and economics.
