The 2026 Nobel Prize for medicine has been awarded to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel “for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics,” the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden announced on October 5, 2026.
Deisseroth is D.H. Chen Professor, Professor of Bioengineering and of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Stanford University, USA.
Hegemann is Hertie Senior Professor of Neuroscience, Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany, while Nagel is Professor of Molecular Plant Physiology at the Department for Molecular Plant Physiology and Biophysics – Botany I, University of Würzburg, Germany.
“The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2026 is awarded for optogenetics — a method that makes it possible to show how nerve cells shape memories, feelings and behaviours in the living brain. Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel discovered a remarkable protein, channelrhodopsin, in a single-celled alga. Karl Deisseroth transformed the protein into a light-controlled switch for nerve cells. The laureates have laid the foundation of a new era in neuroscience,” a statement by the Nobel Committee read.
“How the brain governs feelings, behaviours and bodily functions has long been a mystery. In the 20th century, researchers began to investigate which areas of the brain affect which functions, but the methods used meant they could not prove causal relationships. The image they developed of the brain was like a sketch map, full of question marks and unknowns. Now all this is changing,” it added.
“Optogenetics provides opportunities for mapping the brain in a way that we could once only dream of,” said Per Svenningsson, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine.
The statement concluded that optogenetics has fundamentally altered human understanding of the brain. “Every day brings new discoveries, helping to solve one of humanity’s great mysteries: how our incredible brain works.”
