2026 Nobel Prize awarded to U.S. and German scientists for optogenetics breakthroughs
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to three researchers for their pioneering work on optogenetics.
The laureates-Karl Deisseroth of Stanford University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Peter Hegemann of Humboldt University in Berlin, and Georg Nagel of the University of Würzburg-developed methods that combine light with genetic modifications to switch individual neurons on or off in living brains.
This technology lets scientists precisely control specific brain cells, providing new insights into how neural circuits shape memory, emotion and behavior, and it could influence future neuroscience research and therapeutic strategies.
This writeup was produced by pharmadog from original reporting by STAT.
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