Deisseroth, Hegemann, Nagel win 2026 Nobel Prize in Medicine for optogenetics

Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel have been named joint winners of the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work in optogenetics, Peoples Gazette reports.

The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet announced the award on Monday, saying their work has “laid the foundation of a new era in neuroscience”.

“The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2026 is awarded for optogenetics — a method that makes it possible to show how nerve cells shape memories, feelings and behaviours in the living brain,” it said. “Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel discovered a remarkable protein, channelrhodopsin, in a single-celled alga, while Karl Deisseroth transformed the protein into a light-controlled switch for nerve cells.”

Hegemann, of Humboldt University of Berlin, and Nagel, of the University of Würzburg, discovered channelrhodopsin in the early 2000s. When blue light hits the protein, it opens a channel that lets charged ions flow into the cell, creating an electrical impulse.

Deisseroth, of Stanford University, introduced the protein’s gene into rat nerve cells and triggered a nerve signal with blue light. He published the breakthrough in 2005 and made the technique work in living mice two years later.

“Optogenetics provides opportunities for mapping the brain in a way that we could once only dream of,” said Per Svenningsson, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine.

The laureates will share 12 million Swedish kronor.