The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded jointly to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and the development of optogenetics.
The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet said the three scientists were recognised “for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics,” a method that enables researchers to control the activity of nerve cells using light.
Hegemann and Nagel discovered channelrhodopsin, a protein with unusual properties that can make cells responsive to light.
Their work showed that when the protein was introduced into different types of cells, those cells became light-sensitive.
Deisseroth later introduced the gene for channelrhodopsin into rat nerve cells and demonstrated that illuminating them with blue light could trigger a nerve signal.
He subsequently developed the technique further so that nerve cells could be controlled using light in the brains of living mice.
The approach became known as optogenetics and has since gained widespread international impact as a research tool.
By allowing scientists to switch specific nerve cells on or off with light, optogenetics has provided researchers with a way to investigate how particular cells and neural circuits contribute to brain function and behaviour.
The Nobel Assembly said the discoveries by Hegemann, Nagel and Deisseroth established the foundations of the field, linking the identification of light-sensitive ion channels with their use in controlling nerve signalling.
The 2026 award highlights the importance of basic biological discoveries and their eventual translation into powerful tools for neuroscience.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is traditionally the first of the annual Nobel prizes to be announced.
