The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been jointly awarded to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for their discoveries involving light-gated ion channels and the development of optogenetics.
The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet said the scientists’ work helped establish a technique that allows researchers to control nerve-cell activity using light. Their discoveries have had a significant impact on neuroscience research and have opened new ways of studying how the brain processes memories, sensations and behaviour.
Hegemann and Nagel discovered channelrhodopsin, a protein that can make cells responsive to light. They found that cells became light-sensitive when the protein was introduced into them.
Deisseroth later introduced the gene responsible for channelrhodopsin into rat nerve cells. By exposing the cells to blue light, he was able to activate nerve signals. He subsequently demonstrated that the technique could be used to control nerve cells in the brains of living mice.
The approach became known as optogenetics and has since gained widespread use in neuroscience.
The Nobel prize money, amounting to 12 million Swedish kronor, will be shared equally among the three laureates.
According to the schedule provided, the Nobel announcements will continue with Physics on October 6, Chemistry on October 7 and Literature on October 8. The Nobel Peace Prize is scheduled for October 9, while the prize in Economic Sciences will be announced on October 12.
