The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for their discoveries in the field of “light-controlled ion channels and optogenetics.” The three scientists will share the $1.2 million cash prize.
Optogenetics makes it possible to turn the activity of individual nerve cells in the brain of a living organism on and off using light. The technique is now used in hundreds of laboratories researching how the brain works.
Why it matters
This work provides researchers studying how the brain works with a method for controlling individual nerve cells using light. This makes it possible to investigate the relationship between nerve-cell activity and how the brain works at the cellular level. The technique’s use in hundreds of laboratories today shows that its impact is not limited to the work of the scientists who received the award and that it has become a method used by different research teams. However, the information provided does not explain what specific results research conducted with optogenetics has achieved. The open question, therefore, is what new findings the ability to control individual nerve cells with light will reveal in brain research.