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The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for discoveries on light-gated ion channels and the development of optogenetics. Hegemann and Nagel identified channelrhodopsin, a light-sensitive protein in algae, while Deisseroth turned it into a tool to control nerve cells with light.
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Karl Deisseroth of Stanford University, Peter Hegemann of Humboldt University of Berlin and Georg Nagel of the University of Würzburg for developing optogenetics, a technique that uses light to control neurons. Hegemann and Nagel first identified a light-sensitive protein called channelrhodopsin in algae, and Deisseroth later inserted the gene for it into rodent neurons, enabling precise activation of brain cells with light. The trio will share 12 million Swedish kronor, about $1.2 million.