STOCKHOLM, 6th October, 2026 (WAM) -- American scientist Karl Deisseroth and German researchers Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel have won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics.
The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet said on Monday that their discoveries paved the way for the development of optogenetics, a method that uses light to control nerve-cell activity, enabling researchers to study how nerve cells shape memories, feelings, and behaviours in the living brain.
Optogenetics allows researchers to switch the activity of individual nerve cells on or off and is now used in laboratories around the world to help unravel the mysteries of the brain.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, the first of the annual Nobel prizes to be announced, carries a prize of 12 million Swedish kronor (US$1.2 million).