2026 Nobel Prize in Medicine awarded for optogenetics

The Karolinska Institute awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Medicine to Karl Deisseroth of Stanford, Peter Hegemann of Humboldt University Berlin and Georg Nagel of the University of Würzburg for discoveries that led to optogenetics, a technique that switches individual neurons on and off with light. The method lets researchers map living brain circuits and study neurological disorders.

• Prize goes to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel
• Optogenetics controls individual neurons using beams of light
• The ChR2 protein opens an ion channel in just 0.2 milliseconds
• Method is used to study memory, emotions and restore sight