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The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded to Karl Deisseroth, Georg Nagel and Peter Hegemann for their discoveries underpinning the field of optogenetics, the ability to control cells using light and genetics.
Optogenetics allows scientists to use light to switch cells on and off. Using light-sensing proteins called rhodopsins, optogenetics enables precise targeting of cells, such as brain cells, to understand what they do. The technique has revolutionized neuroscience by opening up the brain’s activity to scientists in ways previously impossible.
Credit: The Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine. Illustrations by Mattias Karlén
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Transcript
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine just went to three scientists whose work underpins the field of optogenetics. Here are three things to know. Number one. What the heck is optogenetics? It's basically a method of using light to turn certain cells on or off. Doing that allows you to get an otherwise impossible view into how they function. This technique has allowed researchers to probe how certain brain circuits or cells influence our behavior and emotion like eating or aggression. Number two. The field would not be possible without algae. More than twenty years ago, researchers wondered why a specific type of algae responds to light. They ended up discovering a light sensitive protein in the algae called channelrhodopsin. Scientists later realized they could use this protein to turn brain cells on or off in mammals and map brain activity and behavior for the first time. And number three, why it all matters. Optogenetics is helping researchers understand all sorts of brain conditions, including Parkinson's and epilepsy, and is opening the door to new treatments. Here's Nobel laureate, Karl Deisseroth, who I interviewed this morning. You know, once you know what matters for function, you can ask how can dysfunction be addressed. You no, are there cells that cause dysfunction? Are there cells that can counteract dysfunction in a precise way? And what we're doing now is... And many others as well as we're seeing how can we leverage this precision to find new treatments, new medications, new neuromodulator, approaches that build on this foundation of of causality.
