Nobel Prize in Medicine 2026 goes to optogenetics pioneers
Why in the news
On 5 October 2026 Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, named three scientists as winners of the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for work that founded optogenetics.
Key facts
- Citation: for discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics.
- Channelrhodopsin: Hegemann and Nagel identified this light-sensitive ion channel in the green alga Chlamydomonas; it opens when hit by blue light.
- Optogenetics: Deisseroth placed the gene for this protein into nerve cells, letting researchers switch neurons on or off with light pulses at millisecond precision.
- The method helps map brain circuits behind specific behaviours and diseases.
- Prize money: 12 million Swedish kronor.
| Laureate | Country | Institution |
|---|---|---|
| Karl Deisseroth | USA | Stanford University and Howard Hughes Medical Institute |
| Peter Hegemann | Germany | Humboldt University, Berlin |
| Georg Nagel | Germany | University of Würzburg |
About the discovery
Hegemann and Nagel began their work in the early 1990s at the Max Planck Institute. Deisseroth, an HHMI Investigator since 2014, later turned the algal protein into a tool for neuroscience. He is the 36th current or former HHMI scientist to win a Nobel Prize.
Exam angle
- Key terms: optogenetics, channelrhodopsin, light-gated ion channels.
- The medicine prize is announced by Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm.
- Two of the three laureates work in Germany.