2026 Nobel medicine prize: Trio wins for optogenetics work
Scientists Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, and Georg Nagel have been awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology for their work on optogenetics. This technology allows researchers to control nerve cell activity in the brain using light.
Why it matters
Optogenetics is a transformative tool in neuroscience that helps researchers map brain functions and potentially develop treatments for neurological conditions.
The Nobel Prize for Physiology for 2026 was awarded to scientists Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for “discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics,” the award-giving body said on Monday (October 5, 2026).
Karl Deisseroth, a 54-year-old American, Hegemann, a 71-year-old German, and Georg Nagel, a 73-year-old German, were selected by the Nobel Assembly of Sweden’s Karolinska Institute medical university and receive a prize sum amounting to 12 million Swedish crowns ($1.2 million), which is shared if there are multiple winners.
Optogenetics “makes it possible to switch on, or off, the activity of individual nerve cells in a living brain,” the prize-givers said.
“This method is now being used in laboratories around the world to reveal the brain’s mysteries.”
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