2026 Nobel medicine prize: Trio wins for optogenetics work

New Delhi ( Abhishek Singh ) :

A trio of scientists has been awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries leading to a technique called optogenetics, which allows scientists to control select nerve cells using light.

The Nobel Assembly said the work of the laureates — Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, and Georg Nagel — allowed neuroscience to move beyond observing correlations and testing how particular neurons and neural circuits are related to different behaviours and emotions.

Today, optogenetics helps scientists study schizophrenia, depression, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, and test treatments to restore vision and hearing loss.

The laureates will share the prize, worth 12 million Swedish kronor (₹11.5 crore), equally.

In the 1990s, Mr. Hegemann, now at Humboldt University in Berlin, and his team found that shining light on a microscopic alga called Chlamydomonas rapidly triggered an electric signal within its body. He reasoned that the molecule involved in detecting light might be, or linked to, a protein that lets certain charged ions enter cells.

Around 2000, Mr. Hegemann approached Mr. Nagel, who confirmed the idea in an experiment. The team identified two proteins that were channels, and they opened when exposed to light. The scientists called them channelrhodopsin-1 and channelrhodopsin-2. Channelrhodopsin-2 in particular opened within 0.2 ms when light was shone on it, allowing positively charged ions to flow into a cell and produce an electric signal. Mr. Hegemann and Mr. Nagel showed that putting the gene for this protein in mammal cells also made them sensitive to light.

At Stanford University, Mr. Deisseroth realised this discovery could transform the way scientists study the brain. Genetic methods could make sure the protein was associated with a specific set of neurons, while light could turn those neurons on or off. This level of control offered greater precision than previous methods such as drugs and electrical stimulation.