Deisseroth, Hegemann and Nagel win 2026 Nobel medicine prize for optogenetics

American scientist Karl Deisseroth and German researchers Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday for discoveries involving light-gated ion channels and optogenetics.

The Nobel Assembly at Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet said their work established a way to control nerve-cell activity with light, allowing researchers to switch specific neural circuits on or off in living brains. Scientists have used the technique to investigate circuits involved in memory, emotion, movement and behavior, including processes relevant to neurological and psychiatric disorders.

The research began with studies of *Chlamydomonas*, a single-celled alga that responds rapidly to light. In the early 2000s, Hegemann and Nagel discovered channelrhodopsin, a protein that opens a channel when illuminated, permitting electrically charged ions to flow into a cell. Deisseroth later introduced the channelrhodopsin gene into nerve cells and demonstrated that blue light could trigger neural signals, first in cultured cells and subsequently in living mice.

Optogenetics is now widely used in neuroscience laboratories. Early clinical work has also explored whether light-sensitive proteins can restore some vision in people with retinitis pigmentosa, while researchers are investigating other possible medical applications.

The three laureates will share the prize of 12 million Swedish kronor. Deisseroth is affiliated with Stanford University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Hegemann with Humboldt University of Berlin, and Nagel with the University of Würzburg.