On October 5, three scientists, Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, and Georg Nagel, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2026 by the Nobel Assembly for their work in optogenetics.
Their work has been praised for allowing scientists, for the first time, to manipulate neural activity using light, further widening possibilities for understanding the human brain. This discovery will also be key in solving the mysteries of our brain, exciting many scientists across the world.
One of the Nobel Prize winners, Deisseroth, a professor at Stanford, had just finished reviewing papers and emailing his students when he received a call from the Nobel Assembly. In his Associated Press (AP) Interview, he said, “I almost felt as if I’d lost the power of forming words.”
Optogenetics is a technique that combines genetics and light to control and monitor the activity of neurons and other cell types, and the three researchers were able to “turn on and off” neural circuits associated with specific memories, feelings, and behaviors tied to neurological and psychiatric disorders.
Before the discovery of optogenetics and subsequent discoveries of light-gated ion channels, scientists knew how to identify specific patterns of brain activity but struggled to establish causal relationships between the activity of specific neurons and their functions and behaviors. The Nobel Committee said the discovery of optogenetics has “fundamentally changed our understanding” of the brain, providing “important insights into how the nervous system interacts with various cells in other areas of the body, such as in the heart and gut.” Furthermore, Per Svenningsson, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine, said this discovery has enabled researchers to illustrate brain movement “in a way that we could once only dream of,” suggesting that the key takeaway of this year’s Nobel Prize is understanding the cause and effect of the brain.
In the early 2000s, German biophysicist Hegemann and Nagel discovered channelrhodopsin, a light-controlled protein found in algae, and US neurologist and psychiatrist Deisseroth later found out how to use it to turn on and off the nerve cells of mouse brains.
“Using light, researchers are now able to switch individual neural circuits on or off in the brain. They can bring memories to life, create feelings, drive behaviors, and study the types of neurons that are involved in various psychiatric and neurological disorders,” says the Nobel Committee.
Through the discovery of light-gated ion channels and the development of optogenetics, the Nobel Committee states that medical treatments using optogenetics “have begun to come to fruition.” This discovery has helped clarify the different features of neurological disorders such as depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease.
Researchers are currently attempting to restore vision in patients with retinitis pigmentosa, a disease that blinds patients by destroying the eye’s rods and cones. When scientists inserted a protein similar to channelrhodopsin into a patient’s retina, the patient regained some vision. They were able to identify and grasp an object on a table after using special light-emitting glasses, marking the first step toward medical treatments.
