Scientists win 2026 Nobel Prize for controlling brain cells with light
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to researchers who pioneered optogenetics, a technique that uses light to control brain cells. The discovery originated from studying how single-celled algae use light-sensitive proteins to navigate their environment.
Why it matters
Optogenetics has revolutionized neuroscience by allowing researchers to manipulate specific neurons with light, providing deep insights into brain function.
Scientists who worked out how to control brain cells with light have won this year's Nobel prize in physiology or medicine. Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel were honored for their research into "light-gated ion channels and optogenetics."
Peter Hegemann, at Humboldt University of Berlin, and Georg Nagel, at the University of W rzburg, wanted to understand how a tiny, single-celled alga called Chlamydomonas senses light. Light-sensing is not unique to animals with eyes: organisms throughout the living world use light to detect their surroundings and respond to changes in their environment. Even single-cell organisms have proteins that respond to light. These proteins are used to move towards or away from light, to generate energy and to respond to the various demands of a 24-hour day.
Hegemann and Nagel discovered that Chlamydomonas has a beautifully ingenious mechanism of light detection that relies on a single protein called channelrhodopsin.
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