Nobel Prize in medicine awarded for optogenetics discoveries

The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine goes to Peter Hegemann, Georg Nagel and Karl Deisseroth, the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm announced on Monday, Oct. 5.

The two German researchers and their American colleague received the prestigious award 'for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics,' the announcement said. Hegemann conducts research at Humboldt University in Berlin, Nagel works at the University of Würzburg, and Deisseroth works at Stanford University in the United States.

Basic research on green algae

In the early 2000s, Hegemann and Nagel discovered the protein channelrhodopsin in the single-cell green alga Chlamydomonas. When this protein is exposed to blue light, a channel opens in the membrane. Charged ions then flow into the cell, generating a measurable electrical impulse.

Deisseroth built upon these findings: He introduced the gene for channelrhodopsin into rat nerve cells and was subsequently able to trigger a nerve signal using blue light. The researcher published this development in 2005 as a scientific breakthrough.

Optogenetics makes it possible to study how nerve cells in the living brain shape memories, emotions, and behaviors. According to the Nobel Committee, this method is now used in laboratories worldwide.

The prize is endowed with 11 million Swedish kronor, equivalent to about one million euros. Each of the three laureates receives one-third of this sum. The other Nobel prizes will be announced gradually through Oct. 12, starting with the physics prize on Oct. 6.