The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been jointly awarded to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for their discoveries of light-gated ion channels and their role in developing optogenetics, Firstpost reported on Monday.
Hegemann and Nagel discovered channelrhodopsin, a light-sensitive protein found in a single-celled alga. Deisseroth then introduced the gene for the protein into rat nerve cells and showed that blue light could trigger nerve signals, later making the same light-controlled switch work in the brains of living mice.
The technique lets scientists switch selected nerve cells on or off in a living brain, helping researchers study how the brain shapes memory, emotion and behaviour. It has also aided research into conditions such as Parkinson's disease, depression, addiction and anxiety, with early clinical work exploring partial restoration of vision.
Deisseroth is based at Stanford University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in the US, Hegemann at Humboldt University of Berlin and Nagel at the University of Würzburg in Germany. The prize is selected by the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet.
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