NewzThe Nobel Prize in medicine was awarded Monday to three scientists working on the mechanisms the brain uses to switch on, or off, the activity of individual nerve cells.(Image credit: Pontus Lundahl) Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, and Georg Nagel are the joint recipients of the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics,” the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden announced on Monday. Deisseroth, 55, a professor at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Stanford University; Hegemann, 72, a professor at Humboldt University in Berlin; and Nagel, 73, a professor at the University of Würzburg, Germany, developed a method that uses light, combined with genetic modifications of neurons, to switch on or off individual cells in a living brain.
This makes it possible to show how nerve cells shape memories, feelings and behavior in the brain, and is being studied as a treatment for disease. Three scientists to share 12m Swedish kronor prize for their work on ‘light-gated ion channels and optogenetics’The Nobel prize in physiology or medicine 2026 has been awarded to three scientists for their work on investigating the mysteries of the brain.Karl Deisseroth of both Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Stanford University, Peter Hegemann of the Humboldt University of Berlin, and Georg Nagel of the University of Würzburg have been awarded the prize “for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics.”. STOCKHOLM (AP) — The Nobel Prize in medicine was awarded Monday to three scientists working on the mechanisms the brain uses to switch on, or off, the activity of individual nerve cells.Karl Deisseroth, 54, Peter Hegemann, 71, and Georg Nagel, 73, have carried out research into light-gated ion channels and optogenetics.The Nobel Assembly lauded their work, writing on X that the method “is now being used in laboratories around the world to reveal the brain’s mysteries.”The assembly said Deisseroth is based at Stanford University in California, while Hegemann is at Humboldt University in Berlin and Nagel at the University of Würzburg, also in Germany.Thomas Perlmann, the secretary of the medicine committee, said he was able to reach all three winners by phone Monday.
The Associated Press' efforts to reach the winners were not immediately successful.Optogenetics opened what the Nobel assembly called a new era in neuroscience, the discovery of a light-controlled switch to turn on and off nerve cells and circuits in the brain to better learn how it works — to start unraveling the pathways that lead to behavior and disease.It started when Hegemann explored how a single-celled type of green algae can swim toward light. He and Nagel discovered a particular protein that, when illuminated by blue light, opens a channel to create an electrical impulse. Putting that protein into other cells makes them light-sensitive.Deisseroth then worked with the gene that controls that protein to create a light-controlled switch for nerve cells in the brains of living mice.Medicine prize kicks off Nobels weekThe prize was announced at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, kicking off Nobels week.The prize money this year is 12 million Swedish kronor (about $1.2 million).Last year, the prize went to three scientists researching the immune system.Monday's medicine prize is followed by the physics prize on Tuesday, chemistry on Wednesday and literature on Thursday.After Friday’s peace prize is awarded, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be announced on Oct.
12.The prize money this year is 12 million Swedish kronor (about $1.2 million), whether for an individual, small group of laureates or organization.___Dazio reported from Berlin and Neergaard reported from Washington. Adithi Ramakrishnan in New York contributed to this report.___AP Nobel Prizes: https://apnews.com/h… They are based at universities in Germany and the United States.The Nobel committee lauded their work, writing on X that the method “is now being used in laboratories around the world to reveal the brain’s mysteries.”The Nobel Assembly said Deisseroth is based at Stanford University in California, while Hegemann is at Humboldt University in Berlin and Nagel at the University of Würzburg in Germany.Thomas Perlmann, the secretary of the medicine committee, said he was able to reach all three winners by phone Monday.The prize was announced at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, kicking off Nobels week.The prize money this year is 12 million Swedish kronor (about $1.2 million).Last year, the prize went to three scientists researching the immune system.Monday's medicine prize is followed by the physics prize on Tuesday, chemistry on Wednesday and literature on Thursday.After Friday’s peace prize is awarded, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be announced on Oct.
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