US-German trio wins medicine Nobel for optogenetics work

The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to US psychiatrist and neurologist Karl Deisseroth and his German colleagues Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for their work in optogenetics, a technique that controls neurons with light.

• Medicine Nobel awarded for optogenetics research
• Laureates: Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel
• Deisseroth is a US psychiatrist and neurologist; colleagues are German