The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Peter Hegemann of Humboldt University in Berlin, Georg Nagel of the University of Würzburg and Karl Deisseroth of Stanford University, for foundational contributions to optogenetics. The prize was announced on 5 October.
Optogenetics is a technique that uses light to switch specific cells, usually neurons, on or off, so that scientists can watch how behaviour changes. Hegemann and Nagel found a light-sensitive protein, channelrhodopsin, in the eyespot of a green alga in the early 2000s. The protein opens a channel in the cell membrane when light hits it.
Deisseroth then showed that the protein could be used to control brain cells in living animals. By delivering blue light through optical fibres, his group controlled neurons in rats and mice. The method is now widely used to study how circuits in the brain work.
Science News reports that the technique has informed research on blindness, depression and dementia. It is mainly a research tool in animals so far, although versions of it are being tested to restore vision.
The Nobel announcements ran from 5 to 12 October. The physics prize went to Francis Halzen, the chemistry prize to Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai, the literature prize to Anne Carson and the peace prize to Navi Pillay. The economics prize was announced on 12 October.
Sources: Science News: A look at the Nobel Prizes for science; NobelPrize.org: Medicine 2026.
Featured image: Illustration of channelrhodopsin and optogenetics for the 2026 Nobel Prize (cropped). Photo by Guido4, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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